


The Ties That Bind

by shkanonyasutrice



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Extended Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-14 15:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16495733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shkanonyasutrice/pseuds/shkanonyasutrice
Summary: Thirty years after the Losers defeat It for the first time, they try to return to normalcy, having gotten married and started families. As they attempt to leave the horrors of that summer in the past, they soon learn that It has come back, and intends to gain revenge by targeting their own children.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my project for this year's edition of Nanowrimo, and it's a type of story I wanted to explore for a while.
> 
> This story will mainly centre around the return of It, and how the monster targets the Losers' own children. However, I'm also going to be diverging away from horror a lot of the time to explore their familial relationships, as well as flashbacks covering the in-between years. 
> 
> For the most part, this is a meshing of the novel and 2017 movie, with the first battle taking place in 1989, and this fic will be set in 2019. There are a few minor changes from the novel, such as:  
> \- None of the Losers moved away, or forgot their memories.  
> \- Stan is now in the same grade as the rest of the Losers (just more convenient for the college parts of the story!)  
> \- That one particular scene with Beverly in the sewers never happened (no particular reason, I just hate that scene lmao)  
> \- Some of the Losers' parents are still alive in this.
> 
> One last thing, this is going to tie in with a number of King’s works, such as The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, and others. Various characters will make cameos, just thought I’d mention that as a side note!  
> That's all the changes I can think of off the top of my head, but if there are any more, I'll keep you updated! For now, happy reading!

_Interrogation Room 7, Derry Police Station, September 1st, 2019, 1:09am._

Alan Pangborn has seen a lot of horrors in his time as a sheriff. Mere months away from retirement, he believed that he might be able to leave the force peacefully, but those plans changed on the night of the Canal Days Festival in Derry.

He laid his hand against the steel handle leading into the interrogation room, but made no move to open it yet. Instead, he closed his eyes, thinking back on all the vague information he had received about what had happened at the festival. He had yet to hear a full account of what had happened. He supposed that if he had attended the festival, he would have had a better understanding of what happened. However, he had no reason to be at the festival that night.

Truth be told, Alan had no reason to be in Derry at all. He was the serving sheriff in Castle Rock, but had traveled to Derry to provide assistance to the police force, as every officer was occupied with other survivors. There was one more survivor that needed to give their account of the events from that night, and he had stepped up to the task of talking to them.

That survivor was now on the other side of that door, which Alan was hesitant to open. He sighed.  _How do you even begin with a subject like this?_  he asked himself.  _Just rip off the bandaid, I guess. You have to get this over with._

Braving himself, he finally opened the door and stepped into the room. There, he came face to face with the survivor he would talk to.

The girl flinched when she heard the door open. She stared up at the sheriff with wide, terrified brown eyes. She drew in a sharp intake of breath, not daring to move. As she sat there, frozen, the sheriff took in her appearance.

Her dark hair was matted with blood, causing it to hang in stiff clumps. Her face was pale and smeared with dirt, and upon closer inspection, Alan realized one dirty smudge was actually a bruise. There was a bloody streak on her left cheek, and as he glanced down, he saw that there were specks of blood on her blue summer dress, and the substance was also caked beneath her fingernails.

She continued to stare at him with that terrified expression. Alan had dealt with scared survivors a few times throughout his career, but never one this young. The girl was only thirteen, according to the file he had received. He knew that he needed to be gentle and patient with her. He felt sympathetic towards her, knowing that she was far too young to have witnessed the atrocities of that night.

Seeing his sympathetic expression, the girl’s shoulders fell, beginning to relax a little. Slowly, Alan approached the empty chair opposite her, and took a seat. He linked his hands together, and for a moment, they just looked at each other. Mentally, he was trying to recall her name.

 _Oh, that’s right. Sophie Kaspbrak-Tozier. I think I’ve heard one of her fathers on the radio a couple of times,_  he thought, glad to have remembered. As he came closer to the end of his career, Alan had come to the realization that he had become poor at remembering names. But, now that he had remembered the girl’s, he knew he had to begin. He pressed a button on the tape recorder that sat on the table.

”Sophie, I’m Alan Pangborn, sheriff of Castle Rock. I’ll be conducting this... discussion concerning the events of August 31st in Derry,” he began formally, mainly for the tape, but then softened his voice, “Are you ready to begin, or do you need more time?”

Her terrified expression became one of confusion. She frowned at him. For a few seconds, all Alan could hear was the pacing footsteps of other officers in the corridor outside. Just as he was about to repeat the question, she finally spoke.

“I don’t think I can talk about what happened. You won’t believe me,” she said simply.

Alan sighed. Of course, given what the survivors had witnessed that night, there was no way that all of them would be willing to run their mouths right away. However, he needed Sophie’s testimony so that they could come closer to understanding this case.

 _Besides,_ he thought to himself,  _I think this girl would be surprised to know that there’s very little I won’t believe nowadays._

He leaned forward. As he did so, he could see that her hands were trembling.

“It doesn’t matter if your story is credible or not. We just want you to talk about what happened. You can do it at your own pace, alright?” he coaxed her.

“Where’s everybody else? My friends, my—” she began, but stopped when Alan held up a hand. He could see tears forming in her eyes, and didn’t want her to be consumed by her memories. 

“They’re all talking to other officers right now about tonight. The sooner we all get through this, the sooner you can see them again.”

That was enough to cause Sophie to slump back in the chair, now relaxing her body completely. She still looked distressed, however. Alan was ready to lean forward to reassure her once more that she could talk at her own pace, but before he could speak, she began talking first. 

“You have no idea what I’m about to guide you through. This isn’t just a spontaneous one-night disaster. This has been building for  _months._  This night was just the horrible finale of everything we’ve been through.” 

Alan raised his eyebrows slightly, and gave her a small nod to go on. She no longer looked terrified. There was hard look in her eyes now, but he could still see the fear in her eyes. She blinked rapidly, and he could tell she was about to cry.

"I’ve… I’ve lost people dear to me tonight because of me and my friends’ curiosity. I don’t know if tonight could have been prevented if we just minded our own business. But really, I don’t know if this could have ever been avoided. I feel like we were always destined to be a part of this, right from the start.”

She paused for a moment, contemplating her own words.  _That’s right. Before any of us were born, our fates had been decided._  All of them were part of some bigger plan they didn’t understand right from the start. Even her birth mother, who had probably been mysteriously drawn to choose the radio host and taxi company owner from Derry, for reasons she couldn’t comprehend.

Thirty years ago, her parents and their friends had been bound to fight against an evil entity that had terrorized the town for centuries. They had been bound by a force they didn’t understand.

Years later, their children had been targeted by the same evil entity. They had been bound to be targeted before they were even born. She didn’t know  _why_  they, or their parents, had been chosen to face such atrocities, but it was too late to change that. Deep down, she knew it never could have been changed.

 _Nothing can be changed. We’re always meant to meet our fates in the end,_  she thought, still staring across silently at the sheriff.  _You might not believe me, but we really tried our best to prevent what happened, and so did our parents._

She found her mind returning to her dads, and felt a swell of love for them. Ever since she had been born, they did everything they could to give her a happy life, free of the horrors they had been subjected to as children. In the midst of all the chaos and fear of the past few months, neither Sophie nor her friends ever doubted their parents’ love for them. All of them had wanted nothing more than to keep their children safe from the evil that lurked in Derry.

_But this is what all of us were always meant for._

”Sophie?” Alan called out.

She flinched. The silence had stretched out for quite a while, which she hadn’t realized. The sheriff was still watching her patiently, waiting for her to begin.

”Sorry,” she apologized, and moved on, “This story doesn’t just begin with tonight, you know. If you want to know exactly what went on, I’m going to start a lot further back.”

”Start wherever you need to,” Alan said. “How far back are we talking here?”

Sophie paused, thinking of the day that everything began to change. She gazed down at the grey desk, and her bloodied fingernails, as her mind returning to that day.

”It started on the last day of school,” she said.

* * *

_Derry Middle School, May 28th, 2019, 2:57pm._

As the end of the school term inched nearer, the students in Ms. Goldbury’s class watched the clock anxiously. They were itching to finally let the summer break begin. At the back of the classroom, there were a pile of suitcases belonging to five of the students.

Sophie turned around and looked at them to make sure they were still there. One of the suitcases belonged to her, while the other four belonged to her friends. Once she counted all five, she glanced around the classroom at the others.

Sitting on the opposite side of the classroom was Ava Uris, her light brown, long curly hair hanging messily down the front of her shirt. She was waving a pen in front of her face, focusing on it intently with furrowed brows. Sitting beside her was George Hanlon-Denbrough, a dark-skinned boy with a smart fashion sense, who was watching Ava cautiously. Seconds later, the pen slipped out of her hand, bounced onto George’s desk, and then onto the floor. That earned her a glare from the teacher, and George gave the woman an apologetic look on both their behalf. Sophie looked away, trying not to laugh.

She looked ahead. In front of her sat the Hanscom twins, sitting still as they listened to the teacher. It was easy to tell the difference between them, even from behind, as Callie kept her dirty blonde hair long and carefully stylized, the waves resting nearly halfway down her back. Next to her say Emma, who kept her hair short and messy. While it was difficult to differentiate them by their faces, it was easy to tell them apart, as they also dressed differently too.

As if she felt Sophie staring at her, Callie turned around. When their eyes met, Callie smiled brightly at her, clearly in high spirits for the summer ahead. Sophie smiled back at her, but then frowned as she picked up on what Ms. Goldbury was saying. Alarmed, Callie turned back around, her attention also piqued.

”...Also, I don’t mean to put a dampener on your high spirits, but please be careful this summer. Remember the curfew. Don’t stay out a minute past seven,” she warned, looking at each of her students cautiously.

Many of the students were looking away nervously by that point. Ever since the previous November, children had been mysteriously going missing on a frequent basis, starting with a ten year old boy. As the number of missing children rose, the younger residents of Derry began to worry that there was someone out there responsible for the disappearances. None of them wanted to be the next victim.

”And if you can, spare a thought for Adam,” their teacher added.

That caused a few students to feel a pang of sorrow. Adam had been from their class, and was generally regarded as a nice kid to be around. He had gone missing back in March, and his parents had sent out a search party to explore Derry. Just like all the other kids who went missing, though, Adam was nowhere to be found.

Sophie wondered if the rising number of missing children was the reason that her parents, and her friends’ parents, had suddenly announced that they would be going on a vacation to Colorado at the start of the summer holidays. They had told the kids about the trip soon after the disappearance of a six year old girl, which had led Sophie to believe that her dads were worried she might become one of the missing.

She tried to shake these thoughts away. While the reason for booking the trip might be morbid, she still found herself looking forward to it. The trip would be an opportunity to relax with her family and friends, as all four families were going. All of her friends’ parents had been best friends since they were children, and their close-knit group had extended to their own children as a result. As summer drew nearer by the minute, she focused her enthusiasm on getting to spend more time with her friends, instead of thinking about the missing kids.

There was one other advantage to being away from Derry for a while. As Sophie glanced behind her once more, she locked eyes with another student, Holly Caulfield. The girl tilted her head curiously at Sophie, and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Slowly, Sophie turned back around.

Throughout the year, Holly had caused hassle at every opportunity for the group, along with her own friends, who were in the grade above. After hearing stories about Henry Bowers and his gang from her parents, she knew that people like Holly wouldn’t just leave them alone because summer had arrived.

So, a week and a half in Colorado sounded like the perfect chance to unwind.

The bell finally rang. Ms. Goldbury stood up from her desk, wished her students a happy summer, and scurried out the door. Callie and Emma got up and began to walk to the back of the classroom, but paused by Sophie’s desk, noticing that she was rummaging through her backpack.

“You coming?” Emma asked, folding her arms and glancing towards the door.

She was determined to get out as early as possible, considering the flight was in less than two hours. They had brought their suitcases to school to save time getting out to the airport, but Emma was already beginning to wonder if they were going to arrive late regardless.

Sophie didn’t respond, but instead pulled her camera out of her bag. Over the past year, she had developed an interest in photography. She tried to keep her camera on her at all times, as she was interested in capturing shots at unexpected times. Her camera was a high-quality one, as her parents were intent on supporting her hobbies as much as they could. Sometimes, she found Richie to be a little _too_ enthusiastic about her photography, as he tried to insist on being in every photo she took.

Once she slung the camera strap around her neck, she began to walk with Callie and Emma toward the back of the classroom, ready to retrieve their suitcases. They paused, however, once they saw Holly was also walking towards the back of the classroom. Emma watched her cautiously, and then sighed when she saw the girl grab the handles of two suitcases, one in each hand, and run toward the classroom door.

 _“Hey!”_ she called out, but Holly was already out the door. She groaned, knowing they would definitely be late now.

Callie looked at the remaining suitcases, and felt a pang of relief upon seeing that hers was still there. As she tried to figure out whose suitcases had been taken, that question was quickly answered when she saw Ava stand up.

“Oh, come _on!”_ she snapped. “Don’t you ever take a break?!”

She stood up, pulling George up with her. The brief anger she had felt had been replaced by mischief, as she was eager about the opportunity to try and get on Holly’s nerves one last time before she went on vacation. George had become too familiar with her eagerness to cause mayhem over the years, and frowned.

“Ava, you know we can just nicely ask her for your suitcase, right?” he tried to persuade her. At that, she snorted.

“Sure thing, George! ‘Cause we all know Holly Caulfield is such a reasonable person!” she replied sarcastically, and then gave his arm a tug. “C’mon, let’s go already!”

“Wait! I never agreed to be part of this! You can’t just drag me into every bit of trouble you’re in!” George protested.

He pulled his arm away, and Ava sighed. She looked him up and down.

“Alright, but you know they have your suitcase too, right?” she asked smugly.

George thought back on when he saw Holly leave the classroom, remembering she was carrying two suitcases. Realizing that he had caught a glimpse of his own suitcase as she left the classroom, he knew Ava was right, and he was about to be dragged into her plans again.

“Okay, fine. Let’s go,” he mumbled defeatedly.

“That’s the spirit!” she praised, and dragged him out the classroom door.

As their footsteps became further away, Callie, Emma, and Sophie looked at each other concernedly. The last thing they needed was to be late because Ava intended on starting a fight against the class menace. If Holly met up with her group of older friends, they knew that George and Ava would be outnumbered. So, even though they knew they were going to be late, they ran out of the classroom.

They looked around left and right, briefly making eye contact with another student from their class; Evan Hughes. He was one of the quieter students from the class. As he looked at the three girls, he opened and closed his mouth a few times. Finally, they looked at him curiously.

“They all went that way,” he said softly, pointing down the corridor behind them.

“Thank you!” Callie said sweetly, not realizing that Sophie and Emma had already started to run in that direction.

Turning around, she felt a brief flash of panic upon seeing they had already left. She gave the boy a small wave first before turning back around. Then, she took off after her friends, ready to try and prevent a disaster.

* * *

 

_Outside the School, May 28th, 2019, 3:13pm._

The stream of kids leaving the school was slowly beginning to wane. Standing by their cars, the Losers watched the front door of the school intently, waiting to see if their own children would come out. As the minutes began to pass, they began to suspect that there was some sort of delay.

Stan, who was standing furthest to the right, shared a concerned look with his wife, Patty. Whenever there was any sort of trouble concerning the five kids, it was usually due to their daughter. He took a step forward, ready to go into the school and see what was going on, but then Patty laid a hand on his arm, shaking her head slightly. She could still see several children still leaving the building, which gave her hope that Ava hadn’t landed herself in any trouble.

Beside them, Richie, Eddie, Ben, and Beverly hadn’t noticed how much time had passed, as they were distracted by something else. That particular something was currently being held in a carrier by Eddie. Beverly was leaning down to look into the caged door, poking one finger in.

A black paw lightly and playfully batted Beverly’s finger, causing her to laugh. She looked into the cat’s green eyes, noticing how the pet was observing her curiously. Ben leant down as well, and then looked up at Eddie and Richie.

“Astrid doesn’t mind being in there?” he asked.

“She whined for about an hour, but I think she’s accepted her fate,” Eddie said. “She can’t exactly roam around on a plane.”

Richie listened briefly, and then knelt down next to Beverly, joining her in poking a finger through various gaps in the cages. The cat, Astrid, suddenly looked overwhelmed, trying to gently bat at both their fingers. She let out a distressed meow, causing Richie and Beverly to snicker. Ben smirked, amused by Beverly’s antics. Eddie looked at Richie exasperatedly, but when he looked at Ben, he failed to hold back a smirk as well, both equally amused by their spouses’ behaviour.

After years of debating, as well as pleading from both Richie and Sophie, the family had finally decided to get a pet. Even though her pure black fur could have been seen as an omen of bad luck, Richie, Eddie, and their daughter had immediately fallen in love with Astrid. She was a gentle, playful cat who enjoyed the attention they gave her. They doted on her constantly, and decided that she should come along on the trip too.

Initially, though, Richie and Eddie were considering leaving her with a friend for the week, but those plans had changed in the past month. It started when Mike pulled them aside after the disappearance of another child, and told them that he and Bill were planning on extending the trip a little longer.

Mike didn’t need to say why. Each family knew exactly why the trip had been decided upon in the first place. The thought of extending the trip, for the purpose of keeping their families away from Derry for a while longer, didn’t bother any of them. Richie and Eddie knew they couldn’t leave Astrid with someone else for an unknown period of time, and thus decided to bring her along.

As Eddie thought about his reasons for bringing Astrid along, he found that he was beginning to feel nervous about the upcoming summer. He looked over at Mike, who had been the most concerned of them all. He saw that Mike wasn’t looking towards the school door, waiting for his son to come out, but rather, he was looking at a nearby wooden post.

Mike stared at the poster, which had ‘MISSING’ in bold, large letters written across the top. Underneath was a picture of a fifteen year old girl. He knew the girl’s mother, as they had been in the same class in their senior year of high school. Looking across the school grounds now, he saw the girl’s mother, anxiously staring at the doors, waiting to see if her daughter would come out.

He briefly thought of that summer thirty years ago, where he would see the parents of missing children back then, always watching wherever they went, waiting for their child to suddenly reappear. At the time, he couldn’t understand why they would be so naively optimistic. But now, as he had a child of his own, he knew that his first instinct would be to wait around everywhere George hung out, hoping that he would suddenly reappear.

Just as he began to think more about why he was determined to get away from Derry briefly, Bill laid a hand on his arm, snapping him out of his thoughts. Mike looked at him curiously, and then saw his husband tap the face of his watch, indicating that something was definitely delaying the kids.

“Should w-we go look?” he asked.

Before Mike could open his mouth to reply, all eight of them were distracted by the sound of footsteps pounding towards them. Looking up, they saw a kid they didn’t recognize coming towards them. He stopped, quickly trying to catch his breath. Although they didn’t know it, the kid was Evan, the same one to guide the three girls in the direction of their other two friends.

“Your kids need help,” he said, and quickly told them which corridor they would have to go down.

Evan was then spotted by his own parents, who called him over. He looked over his shoulders at the Losers, and then ran off, wanting to start his summer at last.

At once, all the Losers looked over at Stan and Patty. Stan groaned, holding a hand to his temple. They all knew as well as he did that this was more than likely down to Ava. A worried expression crossed Patty’s face, and she began to stride towards the school, and the rest quickly followed, Stan matching her pace. She looked over her shoulder at them.

“What’d your kid do now, Stan?” Richie asked.

“You know she might not be even causing trouble, right?!” Stan snapped back, beginning to walk faster.

* * *

 

_Derry Middle School, May 28th, 2019, 3:20pm._

”Give it back, asshole!” Ava snapped.

The older boy, Dean, laughed and held the suitcase behind his back, narrowly missing her swipe. Holly stood in between Dean, who was tall and lanky, and another boy, Garth, who was as short as her, but still older. She folded her arms grinning at Ava.

”What’s wrong? You guys in a rush?” she asked, looking between her five classmates.

”We kind of are, actually, so we’d really appreciate it if you gave those back,” Callie said, trying to keep her tone polite. She began to fiddle with the hem of her blouse.

”Please?” George added.

Holly and Dean shared a look. Dean raised an eyebrow and began to rub his chin, as if in deep contemplation. Then, he turned towards Callie.

”Nope. Don’t feel like it,” he said.

”It’s cute that you want to help out one of your girlfriends, though, George,” Holly teased, causing the boy to look away, embarrassed.

”I’m not dating any of them—“ he spluttered.

”Then you’re obviously fucking gay. That kinda makes sense, since you got—“ Garth began to tease.

Seeing that this was inevitably going to end in a dig at George for having two dads, Emma stepped forward, holding a hand up. That was enough to cause Garth to stop talking, and he watched her curiously. She looked between the three bullies. She then tucked a strand of her short hair behind her ear before talking.

”So, you guys decided that the best way to torment us is by taking our suitcases? So we’d be a little late?” she quizzed, and then rolled her eyes. “Talk about badasses. You guys must be the biggest menaces to ever walk through this school.”

In that particular moment, Emma was thinking of her parents, and the hassle they had faced growing up. Her mother had told her about how one girl had once tossed a bag of garbage over her head on the last day of school. And, although her father never really delved into details, he had briefly mentioned her and Callie that an older boy had tried to carve his name into his stomach. Occasionally, when his shirt rode up, she could briefly see the faint scar of a ‘H’.

So, in her eyes, Holly and her friends were doing a lousy job as bullies. At the most, they were mild nuisances. She could tell her comments irked the group, as they all went from looking smug to irritated in mere seconds. Then, Dean turned to Garth.

”Hey, she’s right. We’re not doing that much. Wanna go to the bathroom and flood these out?” he asked, swinging Ava’s suitcase left and right.

At that, George’s eye’s widened. He lurched forward, reaching for the suitcase that Holly was holding. She swung away from him, laughing when she saw the desperation in his eyes. Ava watched them, and felt a pang of anger. She stepped towards Dean. Even though she was shorter, she was unperturbed by the height difference. She glared up at him fiercely.

”Seriously, just give it back,” she snapped.

As Sophie watched the scene unfold in front of her, she briefly forgot how bothered she was by the bullies. Instead, she found herself admiring the scene in front of her, as she watched how Ava stood up for George, and how Dean still stared down at her with a cocky smirk.

Almost instinctually, she raised her camera. Briefly, she saw the world through the small lens, seeing that Ava was still staring Dean down. She quickly pressed the button on top of the camera, and all of them were distracted by the sudden clicking sound. Sophie settled her camera down once more.

Glancing around, she saw all eyes were now on her. Ava had lost her fiery determination, instead giving Sophie a confused look.

“Pretty bad timing, Sophie,” George murmured quietly, noticing how the bullies were now staring at her intently.

Dean moved towards her, grinning once more. Behind him, Holly and Garth smirked too, although they weren’t exactly sure what he was up to. Sophie stood there rigidly, watching Dean walk over, and then tensed up when he reached downwards. He lifted her camera up, examining it.

“You wanna take pictures, huh?” he queried.

Nervous about what he was going to do to her camera, Sophie quickly snatched it back. Dean made no move to take it back, but he still grinned, as if he had thought of something brilliant.

“I’ll show you something to take a picture of,” he taunted.

Then, his hand moved to the zipper of his jeans. Holly’s mouth dropped open. George, who was already beginning to look away, pulled Sophie away from Dean. The twins looked disgusted, and meanwhile, Ava put her hands on her hips, squinting.

“Anybody got a magnifying glass here?” she asked.

 _“Hey, you little shit!”_ another voice called from further down the corridor.

Dean froze, his hand still on his zipper. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, and Sophie felt a surge of relief. The voice had belonged to one of her dads, Richie, who was now being held back by Stan. As Sophie glanced at each of the adults, she knew they had seen enough to be infuriated with Holly’s gang.

Eddie and Beverly ran over to the kids. Beverly laid her hands on both her daughters’ shoulders. Callie gave her a brief nod to indicate she was okay. Eddie glared at Dean, and began to pull Sophie away from the scene. Before they left, though, Beverly faced Dean, Holly, and Garth.

“Give them back _now_ ,” she said sharply, pointing to the suitcases.

Holly immediately dropped George’s. She had begun to feel intimidated in the presence of an adult, and had lost the determination to keep up this farce much longer. As soon as she dropped the suitcase, George snatched it, and began to run towards his dads. The twins and Sophie soon joined.

Dean lowered the suitcase, and Ava continued to glare at him. At the top of the corridor, Stan and Patty watched their daughter cautiously. However, they began to relax, knowing for certain now that Ava hadn’t been the one to cause the delay.

“Told you that it wouldn’t be her fault this time,” Stan said to the group.

Then, just as Dean began to lower the suitcase fully to the ground, Ava lifted up her foot. She brought it down hard on Dean’s toes, mashing it there for a second. As she was wearing Doc Martens, the pain Dean felt was more intense than it normally would have been. He let out a pained cry, dropped the suitcase, and bent over.

“You fucking bitch!” he snapped.

Eddie, sensing the trouble, quickly grabbed Ava’s arm. He pulled her down the corridor, trying to ignore the boy’s angry cursing behind them. As they came closer, Richie turned to Stan.

“So, what were you saying?” he asked.

Stan said nothing, only glaring back at him. When Ava and Eddie caught up with the rest of the group, Stan and Patty shared a glance, wondering what they could say to their daughter, seeing how she still looked proud after causing Dean a bit of pain.

Before they could think of something to say, they decided to drop it. Summer had finally begun, and all of them were determined to escape Derry, at least for a while.

* * *

 

_On the Plane, May 28th, 2019, 7:46pm._

Sophie positioned her camera over the window. She could see clouds stretching out for miles below her, the slight gaps revealing the green fields below. She knew that due to the window’s doubled tint, the shot wouldn’t turn out so great, but she still wanted to take the opportunity.

”Hey! Over here!” Richie called out.

She looked over at him. While she had the window seat, he had the aisle seat, with Eddie in between them. Eddie was resting his head against Richie’s shoulder, trying to sleep, but failing due to his husband’s inability to stop talking for more than five minutes. He stirred once more when Richie spoke again.

”Take one of me.”

At first, Richie tried a typical, photo-ready smile. Then, after a moment of contemplation, changed it to a serious, dramatic look. Sophie and Eddie glanced at each other, Eddie raising an eyebrow. She lowered her camera, shaking her head.

”The majority of pictures I have here are already of you,” she explained exasperatedly.

Richie was about to argue back, saying that she could never have enough pictures of him, but his attention was drawn to the conversation in the seat behind him. Craning his head back, Sophie and Eddie looked at him curiously for a moment, but then joined him as well. Mike, Bill, and George were seated behind, and their conversation had become interesting to Richie.

Minutes previously, Bill had been in heavy contemplation of the summer ahead. He knew that the rest of the Losers understood why they were leaving Derry on the first day of summer, but there was even more Mike hadn’t explained to them, but only to Bill. Their vacation spot was not randomly chosen, and he wondered if the other Losers had realized why Mike had suggested that particular spot yet.

He also knew that the kids probably knew why they were going on vacation. The thought of returning to Derry in such dangerous circumstances, where George’s life would be in serious danger, was sickening to Bill. More than anything, he wished the Losers had been more successful against the evil in Derry thirty years ago. _George would be safe now if we managed to kill... to kill—_

”Dad? Everything alright?” George asked softly, snapping Bill out of his thoughts.

As he tried to come up with what to say, his eyes met Mike’s. For a moment, he contemplated telling the truth to his son– that he was terrified for his wellbeing. That he was probably in immense danger, and it was all his parents’ fault.

However, he quickly cast those thoughts aside when he saw Mike give a barely perceptible shake of his head. He sat back for a moment, thinking of what to say. He then turned to George with the same serious expression. His son was watching him with concern.

”Sorry, I was j-just thinking of my new buh-book. It’s inspired by a m-movie,” he explained, “You remember the one about the dead guh-girl and the tuh-tapes?”

George gulped. He knew the movie his father was talking about. He had seen it a few months ago, and had been too terrified to sleep after watching it. He looked at Bill once more, and nodded slowly.

”I’m writing a suh-sequel of sorts. It’s already looking scarier than the o-original,” Bill said. “I-I’m going to be working on it through the vuh-vacation. Want to huh-help me with it?”

George shook his head quickly, and then looked at his other father. Mike looked seriously between him and Bill, and then sighed, folding his arms.

”I already had a look at the manuscript. It’s not as terrifying as that movie,” he told George, and then paused. “It’s far, _far_ worse.”

George groaned, leaning back into his seat. He enjoyed reading snippets of Bill’s novels, but he struggled with the parts entrenched in horror, as he had an aversion to the genre. As he groaned, Bill and Mike both held back laughter.

Richie, who had been listening for the past few minutes, leaned over the top of his seat.

”Writing a horror novel’s going to be pretty easy since we’re staying in a _hauuuunted hotel_ ,” he said.

”Wait, _what?_ ” Callie asked from a nearby seat, stunned.

Bill and Mike glared at Richie. He glanced around at the other nearby families. All the kids, including Sophie, we’re now looking either shocked or perturbed. All the adults appeared to be annoyed.

”What, you didn’t tell them?” he said.

”Richie, don’t you remember me specifically telling you not to tell Sophie about the hotel we’re staying at?” Eddie asked sharply.

”Oh yeah! Forgot about that.”

Seeing Stan’s glare from a few seats over, Richie took that as his cue to sit back down. There was silence amongst all of them for a second. Then, Ava turned to Stan, her eyes wide.

”So it’s true?” she asked, uncharacteristically quiet. Stan pauses before replying, mulling over his words.

”There was an incident at the Overlook a few decades ago, yes. But that was long ago, so you’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said gently.

Her response threw him off guard, however. Instead of staring up at him with apprehension, a big grin now broke across her face. She looked far more excited for the trip to Colorado than she had ever been. Stan looked at her questioningly.

 _”Sweet!”_ she exclaimed.

Not for the first time, Stan and Patty found themselves wondering if they would ever be able to understand their daughter. Her reaction, though, was enough to cause her friends to relax a little. George still remained tense, and looked between his parents.

”It’s safe now, right?” he asked.

”Of course it is,” Mike said softly. “You’ve got nothing to worry ab—“

”You’re fine, George! The last time a writer went ax-crazy tried to murder his family was forty years ago!” Richie interrupted, looking over the seat once more. Next to him, Eddie hid his face in his hands, mortified.

”Shut up already, Richie!” Bill snapped, and the other man sat back down once more.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 610, May 28th, 2019, 11:19pm._

After tossing down the kids’ suitcases in George and the twins’ room, the majority of the adults began to bring their own suitcases into the connected room, which belonged to Mike and Bill. The only three adults remaining were Richie, Stan, and Eddie, the latter of whom was holding the pet carrier.

The moment he opened the caged door, Astrid bounded out, briefly pausing to stretch after spending several hours in a small carrier. Meowing happily, she began to pad around the room. After exploring enough of her new surroundings, she then hopped onto the bed, and into Sophie’s lap.

”Over here, Astrid!” George called from the other bed.

Astrid raised her head, cocking it curiously to one side. George called her again, and she bounced off Sophie’s lap. After clambering across the two beds, she finally curled up in George’s lap, purring happily. Ever since they got Astrid, she had taken a particular liking to George, often curling up in his lap whenever he came over. He was happy to give her the attention, as he was doing now by gently stroking her head.

At the top of the room, Richie was attempting to find a movie for the kids to watch. Stan and Eddie stood at the door, watching him impatiently. As soon as they were done helping the kids, they intended to join the other adults in the connecting room.

Richie flicked through a few channels, pausing briefly when he saw a horror movie from the nineties. He knew that only Ava and Emma didn’t hate horror movies, so he skipped ahead, until he found a comedy playing. After a moment of consideration, he turned up the volume. Then, he walked towards the door, joining Stan and Eddie.

”Don’t get in any trouble,” Stan warned, looking pointedly at his daughter, who grinned toothily at him.

Eddie began to walk, but then looked over his shoulder at Sophie. ”We’ll check in on you in a while. Love you.”

”Love you too,” she called out.

”He was talking to Astrid!” Richie added from afar. Astrid raised her head upon hearing her name.

That was the last thing they heard before Eddie closed the door, leaving the kids alone with the movie blaring on the background. They watched it for a moment. Then, Ava grabbed the remote and turned the volume down by a couple of notches. She stood up, catching the others’ attention.They watched as she approached the wall connected to the other room. This was the point that Emma stood up, unable to hide her confusion any longer.

”Okay, what are you doing this time?” Emma asked.

”I don’t know about the rest of your parents, but mine have been acting weird as hell lately, especially dad. If they’re all in there to talk about something important, it’s probably related to what’s been biting my dad lately,” she explained.

Emma raised her eyebrows slightly, taken aback by Ava’s logical reasoning, which was rare for her. Slowly, she stood up too, and walked over to join her. Callie followed as soon as she saw her sister get up.

The three looked back at George and Sophie, who lowered their gazes. At that moment, all of them were thinking about how their parents had been acting recently. Ever since kids had started mysteriously disappearing, there had been a noticeable change in their behaviour.

When the first child was announced missing, their parents had become quiet and withdrawn, constantly lost in their own thoughts for a few weeks. While they had soon returned to their normal selves, every time another child went missing, they would return to that state. There were more private conversations amongst the adults, often looking over their shoulder to make sure their children weren’t listening.

So, knowing that something strange was going on, George and Sophie got up too. If this was their one opportunity to find out what had caused their strange behaviour lately, they decided they were going to take it. Astrid hopped off the bed, pattering next to the group.

Soon, all of the kids had their ears pressed against the wall. They were no longer paying any attention to the movie blaring behind them. Instead, they strained to hear what their parents were discussing.

They heard the door click shut, and the sound of footsteps. Stan apologized for being late, and Ben asked how the kids were doing. Their small talk continued for a few minutes, and the kids quickly found themselves feeling bored. Then, there was silence. Just as George was about to leave the wall, he heard Mike begin to speak.

“So, I think you all know by now that I suggested this trip to keep our children safe,” Mike said.

The five kids looked at each other. This wasn’t new information to them. Although none of their parents had discussed it with them, they knew that it wasn’t coincidental that this holiday was planned shortly after another child went missing.

“Of course we know that,” Beverly said. There were murmurs of agreement.

“Good. Another thing I think you all know is the kidnapper’s identity,” Mike continued, and then paused. “Patty, Stan told you about what we went through, didn’t he?”

 _What they went through?,_ Ava thought. A part of her had assumed her father had been an accountant from birth, and never exactly _went through_ anything in his life. The wording of Mike’s question piqued her curiosity, and she pressed her ear harder against the wall.

“He told me everything a long time ago,” Patty said.

There was a pause before Mike continued speaking.

“Then I take it you’ve all figured out that It’s come back. And, if it’s looking to gain revenge against us, I believe it’ll target our children. As long as It still thrives in Derry, their lives are in danger.”

George lurched back from the wall, as if it had suddenly burned his ear. Emma grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back to the wall, her own eyes wide at Mike’s words. The five kids looked at each other. They were still thrown off guard by his vague words, but they understood one thing; their lives seemed to be more at risk than any other child’s in Derry. They were all silent for a while, until Ava spoke once more.

“Okay, what the _fuck_ is It?”


	2. Chapter 2

_The Overlook, Room 611, May 28th, 2019, 11:31pm._

There was silence amongst the eight adults for a moment. They were thinking about what Mike had said. Every time another child went missing, they had worried that their own children were in danger too. They had all secretly thought that their children were in more danger than the others in Derry, but they had never exactly voiced that thought. Now, it was out in the open, and they knew they had no choice but to acknowledge it.

“Do you have proof of that? Did something happen to George?” Ben questioned, breaking the silence.

Mike shook his head. He had been keeping a watchful eye on George, and always made sure the boy returned home before the curfew. So far, nothing had happened, but Mike sharply remembered that the worst events from thirty years ago happened when summer began.

“Nothing happened, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be cautious. The rate of kids disappearing is even higher than what it was thirty years ago,” he explained.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean  _our_ kids are in danger, though! It’s not like It’s going to steal every single child in Derry,” Eddie protested, but despite his denials of danger, his face was still pale from worry.

“That’s true. Maybe our kids  _will_ be safe when we return. Perhaps It won’t target them at all,” Mike said, shrugging. “But, I think you all know that It’ll want revenge against us for what we did to it, and the best way to make us pay is by harming our children.”

He paused briefly, looking around at each of his friends’ faces. For a moment, all that could be heard was the increasingly high sound of Eddie’s breathing, until he finally fumbled for his inhaler, and after taking it, his breathing became normal once more. Mike looked over at Bill, who looked the calmest out of all of them, considering they had already discussed this in private.

“There’s one other th-thing you didn’t mention,” Bill said.

“Oh, right. I mentioned this theory first around thirteen years ago, if you all remember. I still think I was right, but we’ll only find out for sure about it this summer.”

Nobody responded, but they all remembered what Mike was referring to. While the majority of them begun to think about the exact day Mike brought up his theory, he and Bill were thinking back a little further. They thought back to the day they had decided to adopt a child.

* * *

 

_Main Street, Derry, February 9th, 2006, 12:04pm._

As Bill drove through the town, he found himself occasionally glancing over at Mike, who was gazing out the window, lost in his thoughts. They had only been married for five months, and Bill was still finding it hard to believe he had ended up marrying one of his best friends. Looking over again at him, he thought about how lucky he was to have found someone kind and patient to explore the new intricacies of marriage with.

The silence between them at that moment was comfortable, but Bill still considered possible topics to bring up. However, before he could decide on something to ask, Mike suddenly sat up straight, putting a hand on Bill’s arm.

”Stop the car,” he instructed.

Bill didn’t understand why Mike had made the request, but he screeched to a halt. Briefly, he was afraid he nearly hit a small animal that he failed to see, but quickly cast that thought away. He looked over to what Mike was looking at, and saw a teenage girl with her face in her hands on a bench. Mike immediately opened the car door and began to run towards her. Bill hesitantly followed, still unsure of what was going through Mike’s head.

When Mike reached the girl, she lifted her head, startled, tears streaming down her face. The moment Bill saw who she was, he realized why Mike had been quick to run over and check on her. The girl was Annie Barrett, a senior from the local high school. 

Mike had first met her seven years ago, when she was only ten. He had been an intern at the library, and had come to her aid. The incident started shortly after the school day had ended. She had come to the library to do her homework while waiting on her mother. On that particular day, Mike had been assigned to take care of the children’s section. As he was restocking books, he had heard a commotion break out behind him.

A group of boys had sauntered into the library, and he suddenly heard loud exclamations towards the girl, telling her that ‘her kind’ didn’t belong in the library. He knew immediately that they were referring to the fact she was black. It was no great secret to him that racism was still thriving in Derry, but that didn’t mean he would merely sit quietly and accept that.

Instead, he spun around, facing the group of boys, who were around thirteen years old. He saw that the girl, Annie, was crying silently, clutching her copybook close to her chest. Feeling rage swell up inside him, Mike had yelled at the boys to get the hell out, that the girl had more of a right to be there than they did. Stunned by the rare act of seeing a librarian lose their temper, the boys had run out the door without looking back.

After that, he had been quick to see if Annie was okay. She had calmed down considerably after having Mike stand up for her. He had spent the rest of the evening helping her with her homework, and by the time her mother came to collect her, she had considered him a friend. 

And now, once again, Mike was kneeling by her while she cried. Bill quickly joined them. They shared a look, and then Mike took a seat on the bench beside Annie. She tried to control her sobs, taking in light, shaky breaths.

“What happened? You can talk to me,” he said gently. “Nobody’s picking on you, are they?”

Unexpectedly, she smiled a little at that.

“No, nobody’s picking on me. If they were, I’d come running straight to you for help,” she said, but then she frowned once again, fresh tears welling up. “This one’s all on me.”

Mike looked lost. Bill opened his mouth, ready to ask her to elaborate on that. But, before he could, she spoke once again. 

“I’m pregnant,” she said quietly, and shook her head in disbelief. “I just took the test, and… and now I’m a pregnant high school student. I applied to NYU, but I can’t even think about college if I’m going to have to raise a kid that I don’t even want.”

Annie looked between Mike and Bill fearfully. She was afraid of hearing a stern lecture on how stupid she had been, but she soon relaxed when she didn’t see judgement in their eyes. Instead, she saw them look at her with sympathy, both clearly mulling over their words.

“Have you cuh-cuh-considered all your o-options?” Bill asked.

”I think so. I mean, I considered aborting it, but I don’t think I  _can,”_  she said. It looked as if she had more to say oh why she couldn’t bring herself to get an abortion, but she quickly shook her head and moved on.

”I can’t raise the baby either. I don’t even want kids, and definitely not when I’m planning to start college this year. If I have to raise this baby, it’ll destroy all my plans for life. I can’t abort it, I can’t raise it...” she continued, biting her lip as more tears began to roll down her cheeks.

”What about adoption?” Mike suggested.

”I considered that too, but I don’t know. I couldn’t rest easy at night if I gave the baby to a couple of strangers. Sure, they might seem nice at first, but what if—“

”What i-i-if me and Muh-Muh-Mike a-a-adopt it?” Bill suddenly cut in.

There was dead silence amongst the three of them. Bill seemed taken aback by his own words. Mike was staring at him, stunned. Annie held her breath, looking between the two men. Then, after the silence seemed to stretch for an eternity, she spoke quietly.

”Are you being serious right now? Have you two even discussed having kids?” She hesitated for another moment before adding, “I know you two haven’t been married very long either. Are you sure about this?”

Annie and Bill looked to Mike to hear his opinion. Bill had become nervous, as it was beginning to dawn on him how impulsive he had been to blurt that out without pulling Mike to one side.

Mike took a deep breath, thinking about what to say. Mentally, he was weighing the task that he and Bill would be taking on. He knew this would change their lives forever if he agreed. They had briefly brought up the idea of adopting a few times, but hadn’t made any solid plans, especially not the plan Bill had just blurted out.

As carefully as he thought through the idea, his mind couldn’t be swayed from its firm position. The moment Bill had opened his mouth, he already knew what he thought about the idea. So, despite how he tried to be less impulsive than Bill, he still faced Annie and nodded.

“We’re certain. We won’t lie and say this won’t be challenging, but I think this is something Bill and I are ready for, if you’ll let us do this,” he said. “We’ll give your baby the best life we can.”

Annie stared at them with her mouth agape. She was silent for a minute, and the couple began to worry that she was beginning to realize she didn’t want to give the baby up for adoption after all. Now that the idea was out in the open, they knew this was what they both wanted. They didn’t need to take a side-line discussion. They already knew perfectly well that they were on the same wavelength with this idea.

Then, while they were still lost in their worries, Annie pulled both of them into a hug, letting out a sound that was half-sob and half-laugh. Both men were caught off guard, but after a moment, Mike returned the hug, and then Bill did too. Annie eventually let go, staring up at them, looking hopeful for the first time since they had bumped into her.

“You’re sure about this now? It’s so much to ask, but if this is what you want, then it works out for all of us, doesn’t it?” she asked, and then frowned again. “If it is too much to ask, you can tell me.”

“It’s nuh-not too m-m-much,” Bill said.

He shared a knowing look with Mike. After everything they had went through as children, it felt as if nothing could faze them anymore. He could already feel his fears about his impulsivities begin to wane, as they were replaced by eagerness at the thought of a new future unfolding.

When he looked over at Mike, he could see that he no longer looked shocked. Instead, he now looked content, and judging by the spaced out look in his eyes, he was also imagining the new direction their lives were about to be taken in. Annie glanced between them once again. She wiped at her eyes. Although she was still upset, she knew that she could still pursue the future she wanted now.

“Thank you, thank you, _thank you._ You two really don’t have any idea how much this means to me. Mike, you’re always looking out for me somehow, huh?” she said, grinning.

Mike smiled back at her. When she went to pick up her schoolbag, both Bill and Mike moved to help her, but she held up a hand, indicating she could handle its light weight.

“We can work out all the small print over the next couple of weeks, right?” she said, and they both nodded.

Before she got up from the bench, she scribbled down her number and gave it to Mike, who pocketed the slip of paper. Then, after thanking them one last time, she got up and began to walk away. Before she got too far, though, she turned around once again.

“I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that you two happened to find me right after I took that pregnancy test. I think this was meant to happen,” she mused, and then shook her head. “Anyways, I’ll talk to you guys very soon.”

Bill and Mike watched her for a few more minutes, making sure she safely made it to the bus. Once she got on the bus, Bill turned to Mike and gave his hand a firm squeeze, grinning. His husband looked back at him with equal excitement.

“So, we’re really going to be parents, huh?” Mike said, his voice quiet with awe.

“Yeah, we really are,” Bill replied, and then paused, thinking back on his impulsiveness. “I’m suh-sorry I didn’t talk t-t-t-to you in private first. I don’t know whuh-what came over me—”

Mike cut him off with a sudden kiss, causing Bill to freeze up in shock. After a moment, he reciprocated, and then pulled away. He saw that Mike was gazing at him with a certain softness.

 “Bill, it’s fine. If you weren’t going to suggest it to her, I probably would have. This is something we both want, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t go for it,” Mike reassured him.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Bill no longer felt any of his previous qualms. His suspicions about Mike being just on board with this were right, and they could take that next step together with no worries. It felt surreal that they were actually going to raise a child together, but considering the decision had been made less than ten minutes ago, it would take time to sink in.

It felt as if the timing was perfect. He and Mike wouldn’t be alone in becoming parents, as the rest of their friends were also going through the same process. Stan’s wife had given birth to their daughter just a week ago. Beverly was in the final trimester of her pregnancy with twins, and although she and Ben were scared, there was no doubting how eager they were. Richie and Eddie had finally been taken off the adoption waiting list, and the biological mother was halfway through her pregnancy.

Bill found it a funny coincidence, but a pleasant one at the same time. He had witnessed all the stages of his friends’ excitement and fears over the beginnings of parenthood. It felt good to finally be a part of that, and as he thought about that coincidence, he turned to Mike once more.

“We have to t-t-tell the others soon. It’s funny that a-a-all our kuh-kids are going to huh-have the same b-b-birth year,” he said.

When he said that, Mike’s expression changed. His smile faltered, and he looked down at the ground, as if he were contemplating Bill’s words carefully. Then, something dawned on him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wishing he could cast away the thought the moment it came.

“What is it?” Bill asked, alarmed by Mike’s sudden change in mood.

Mike shook his head, standing up.

“We need to meet with the others this week. Something just occurred to me. It could just be a crazy theory, but I think it’s something we need to discuss.”

Fumbling for his phone, Mike began to compose texts to the other Losers. He paced back and forth as he typed. Bill watched on, completely lost by his husband’s behaviour. He thought back on his words, trying to figure out what was bothering Mike, and the inkling of an idea began to form in his head. He quickly tried to shake it away as soon as it came. The thought had briefly frightened him.

* * *

 

_Jade Orient, February 15th, 2006, 1:55pm._

A few days after meeting Annie, Mike and Bill had arranged for the Losers to meet at the Jade Orient. Although Mike had tried to sound casual on the phone, he had been questioned by the others, as they were suspicious of the fact he was hiding something. Unable to bring himself to fully lie to his friends, he told them that he would explain everything when they met.

Richie and Eddie had been the first to arrive. Mike had asked if there were any updates on the baby, and Eddie had responded to his polite questions. Richie, on the other hand, had taken immediately to pestering Bill and Mike, saying he was certain they were hiding something.

They tried their best to tiptoe around the subject. At that time, they were hiding a lot, between the fact that they were going to have a child, and Mike’s concerns. They were growing increasingly exhausted at trying to change the topic, as Richie was annoyingly insistent on finding out what they were hiding. Luckily for them, Richie’s attention was soon diverted when Ben and Beverly walked in.

”Holy shit, you can still fit through the door?!” Richie exclaimed, looking at Beverly’s bulging stomach.

That earned him a glare. She greeted the others warmly, and moved slowly towards one of the chairs. Ben quickly pulled it out, watching her cautiously to make sure she had no trouble getting seated. Then, he sat down next to her and looked over at Mike.

”So, what’s this about?” Ben asked curiously.

Richie sat up, folding his arms and staring pointedly at Mike. He was interested to see if he would be more willing to tell Ben than him, but Mike remained just as reluctant as he did with Richie.

”Let’s wait until Stan arrives, alright?” Mike suggested. Ben shrugged and nodded, immediately understanding.

Mere moments later, Stan burst through the door, panting. His hair wasn’t brushed, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled. As he approached the table, there was a small puke stain visible on his shirt. Richie grinned and opened his mouth to make a comment, but froze when Eddie shook his head quickly at him.

“Sorry I’m late,” he mumbled, slumping down into the one empty seat. “Ava refused to settle down.”

“You’re really getting your ass handed to you by a new-born baby, huh?” Richie commented, laughing to himself. Stan looked at him coldly.

“Laugh all you want, but you’re going to be in my shoes in just a couple of months,” he reminded him.

At that stage, his baby was only two weeks old, but the rest of the Losers could already see the effects that parenthood was having on Stan. Beverly laid a hand on her stomach, furrowing her brows.

She knew that the next few months would be incredibly challenging, judging by how exhausted Stan seemed to be all the time. She also knew it would probably be even harder, considering she would be having twins. Glancing over at Ben, though, she felt comforted, knowing that he would be kind, supportive and patient.

“Okay, so what do you want to talk about?” Ben asked.

Mike and Bill shared a look. Bill gave him a nod, indicating for him to start from the beginning. He began to retell the conversation between them and Annie, and slowly, realization dawned on each of the Losers’ faces when he detailed how terrified she had been at the prospect of having a child.

However, none of them said anything until Mike finally announced that they were going to adopt Annie’s baby. Stan raised his eyebrows, and was about to ask if they were sure about their impulsive decision, but before he said anything, he looked around at the rest of his friends, and saw the delight on their faces. He decided against saying anything, and just basked in the happy atmosphere.

Beverly hoisted herself up from her seat and walked over to them. She pulled Mike into a hug from behind, smiling warmly at him. That smile gained a slightly stiff quality when she faced Bill, but she then gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“This is amazing news!” she exclaimed happily.

Eddie reached over to congratulate them as well, but froze when he saw that there was an uncertain look on Mike’s face. There was clearly more to the story that he had yet to share. Even though he was meant to be at his happiest, there was something clearly bothering him, and that began to make Eddie feel uneasy.

“Is there something else you need to tell us?” he asked.

Mike sighed and nodded. He looked at Bill, who took a hold of his hand. Then, he faced the others once more. As he thought about how to phrase what was on his mind, he began to worry that he was jumping to an irrational conclusion. But, given what they had gone through as children, he knew that it was better to be overly cautious than to be careless.

“Annie said something strange before she left. She thought that this was _meant_ to happen. After that, Bill pointed out something else that I found strange. All of our kids are going to be born within the same year,” he explained.

“What’s so weird about that?” Beverly asked.

“This might mean nothing, but I do find it odd that all of us ended up expecting children around the same time. Usually, within friend groups, there tends to be some sort of disparity. It would have been less strange if, say, one of us had a child three years ago, while another one of us mightn’t have had one until you were thirty,” he said, “But here we all are, all expecting kids within the same year.”

“What are you saying?” Eddie chimed in, sitting up. He was beginning to look quite tense.

“What I’m saying is that we were mysteriously chosen as the ones to fight It, probably long before we even knew what was ahead of us. Perhaps our children are going through the same thing now. They’re all going to be born around the same time because they’ve been chosen to fight It again if it returns.”

The rest of the group became quiet at that. Over the past seventeen years, they had tried whenever they could to avoid discussing It. Whenever It did get brought up, it was always followed by tense silence, as they all tried to leave behind the memories of that summer. So, hearing Mike discuss It so openly came as one major shock to them.

The main thing that had brought on their silence was his theory, however. They had no idea what to make of it, and for a moment, they all just glanced around at each other, trying to figure out what each other person was thinking. After the silence seemed to spread for a while, Eddie spoke up once for the first time in a while.

“I understand why you’re concerned. I mean, this is a strange coincidence, but at the end of the day, it _is_ just a coincidence,” Stan said, sounding unsure of himself. “A lot of people have kids around this age. That doesn’t necessarily prove that this is in any way related to what we went through.”

“Right. I did think of that,” Mike said, nodding, and then paused. “But then I thought of something else. Stan, how long were you and Patty trying for a baby?”

Stan looked a little confused at the question, but then realized why Mike was asking. He eyed up the others suspiciously, wondering if they would give similar answers.

“Four years,” he admitted.

Mike gave a slight nod, and then turned to Ben and Beverly. They glanced at each other, already knowing what he was about to ask.

“And what about you two?”

“Three years,” Ben said.

The Losers began to look around at each other uncomfortably. They knew it was strange hearing that there had been a time gap between the two couples’ decision to have a child, considering that Beverly had only fallen pregnant a few months after Patty did. Ignoring the increasingly tense atmosphere, Mike turned to Richie and Eddie.

“How long were you on the waiting list before your adoption went through?” he asked.

Before Eddie could open his mouth, Richie cleared his throat, slinging an arm around his husband’s shoulder. Mike raised an eyebrow, curious to see where this was headed.

“Well, it all started when we ran into some problems trying the natural way—” he began, trying to imitate the voice of a film narrator. Instantly, Eddie looked mortified.

“ _Eddie,_ how long were you waiting?” Mike quickly cut in.

“A year and a half,” he answered quietly.

“And obviously, Bill and I only had to wait a few months after getting married before this happened. So, tell me now, do any of you find it coincidental that we all started thinking of having kids at different times, and yet we’re all going to become parents this year?” Mike quizzed.

There was silence. Stan’s face had become pale, as he thought of his daughter at home, wondering if she would be dragged into the same terrifying events he went through as a child. Beverly was staring down at her stomach, feeling a new pang of fear for her unborn twins.

“What I truly think is that It is responsible for this. If It’s going to come back, it’ll target our children. It wants to get revenge against us by hurting them like we hurt It all those years ago,” Mike said, trying to keep his tone steady.

At that, Eddie fumbled for his inhaler, feeling his breathing become labored. Richie laid a hand on his upper back, making sure he was okay, and then turned to Mike, unable to hide the worry on his face. Then, as he often did when he as a child, he turned to Bill for help.

”So if Mike’s right, what do we do about this?” he asked.

”I d-d-don’t know. I guess we—“ Bill started to reply.

”We fucking kill It if it so much as looks at our children. That’s that,” Beverly cut in.

She laid both her hands over her stomach, spreading her fingers out. She thought of what her children may have to experience someday, and the thought not only terrified her, but fueled her rage. She looked sharply at Mike.

”I hope you’re wrong about this,” she said, unable to keep the worry out of her voice.

”Believe me, I hope I’m wrong too,” Mike replied.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 611, May 28th, 2019, 11:38pm._

”So you think that you were right?” Eddie asked quietly.

”Possibly. There’s still no solid proof that It’s specifically coming for our kids, but...” Mike trailed off, shaking his head.

The others watched him cautiously. None of them wanted to hear where he was going with that sentence. They no longer wanted to hear about the unstoppable danger that was possibly targeting their kids, even though they knew it needed to be discussed.

”You all know I’ve been studying Derry’s history for a long time now. One particular pattern I’ve noticed is that before It goes back to sleep, it always ends its cycle in an explosive, disastrous manner,” Mike explained, “And I think It intends to make our children part of its finale. It wants us to get comfortable.”

”What do you mean by explosive and disastrous?” Ben asked, sitting up.

”There are plenty of examples that I’ve detailed in the book I’ve been working on. I have the manuscript in my bag, but until I get into that, do any of you have questions?” Mike replied, looking around at the group.

”Yeah, I got one. Why are we at the Overlook, Mikey? That’s gotta be related to what you’re saying, right?” Richie quizzed, and then squinted. “Or did you just take us to a haunted hotel for no reason?”

”Hey, don’t look at me. It was Bill’s idea.”

Bill shrugged, admitting defeat. Richie looked at him questioningly, as if to urge him to explain. With that, Bill started talking.

”You a-all heard about what huh-happened here in the seventies, right? About the m-m-man who went cuh-crazy and tried to murder his fuh-fuh-family?” he questioned, and received a few nods. With that, he continued.

“Well, there’s a lot of discussion a-a-about _why_ he attacked them. His suh-suh-son revealed in his b-b-book that he had supernatural p-p-powers as a kid, and there are ghosts in this hotel that w-w-wanted to attack him because of i-i-it.”

”So, the supposed ghosts possessed the father, all for the purpose of defeating the other supernatural presence in the hotel,” Mike finished for him. “If there’s a supernatural entity here that will fight against other supernatural entities entering the hotel, we’ll be at our safest from It here.”

“ _Or_ we could end up pissing off the ghosts here, and then we have a whole other problem on our hands,” Eddie groaned.

Richie slowly raised his palm to his chest, his eyes growing wide. He let out a small gasp, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. Bill knitted his brows with concern, wondering if he and Mike had made the wrong call by choosing the Overlook.

“I can already feel something here… oh god, they’re… they’re…” he gasped.

He then tilted his head back, before lowering it with a devilish grin. The others watched on cautiously, except for Eddie, who raised a suspicious eyebrow at him.

“Your mother sucks cock in _hell!”_ he snarled in his best imitation of a possessed demon. That earned a groan from everyone in the room.

“Oh, hilarious,” Stan told him sarcastically.

Richie simply laughed to himself. Eddie glanced around the room, noticing that as irritated as everyone was, the majority of them had also considerably calmed down. Grateful that the tension had been alleviated, he slipped his hand into Richie’s.

The only person who still remained quite tense was Beverly, who was still looking over at Mike. Feeling her eyes on him, he looked over at her too, wondering what was on her mind.

“You never finished telling us about those explosive and disastrous events,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t, did I? Well, you’ve probably heard of a lot of the major events. The most famous one was probably the Kitchener Ironworks explosion,” Mike explained as he approached his suitcase, “The only cycle that didn’t have a disastrous event to end it all was the year we defeated it. That’s why I believe It’ll try to do something even more… what the...?”

Cutting himself short, Mike began to rummage through his suitcase more frantically. The book was nowhere in sight. Bill opened his suitcase too, beginning to check, but there was no sign of it there either. They looked at each other, completely lost.

“It’s not here. I could’ve sworn I packed it,” Mike mumbled to himself.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 610, May 28th, 2019, 11:57pm._

“And so, whatever the hell It is _took the book! Shock! Twist!”_ Ava gasped in an overdramatic voice. No one reacted to that, except for Astrid, who meowed at her.

Despite her attempt to lighten the mood, she was also feeling tense at the conversation they were overhearing. There was a lot to process, and they were still not fully sure of what It was. All they knew was that their parents were describing something dangerous, and that dangerous thing was responsible for the various disappearances around Derry. Now, that thing was possibly coming for them.

They were briefly distracted from the terror of the unknown as they listened to their parents search around the room for the missing manuscript. George suddenly stood away from the wall, which caught the girls’ attention. He looked as if he were hiding something, as he refused to look at any of them, and bit his lip nervously.

“Okay, what is it? Spit it out,” Emma demanded, standing up as well.

“I know where the manuscript is,” he said quietly.

He approached his own suitcase, and the others quickly ran over. It suddenly occurred to Ava why he had been so determined to keep his suitcase safe after Holly had taken it. Whatever was in the manuscript sounded important, after all.

“My dads were in a rush while they were packing, and I think they must have accidentally put this in here,” George explained as he rummaged through his suitcase. “I only glanced at the front page, but it looked really important.”

Eventually, he pulled out a composition notebook, which looked stuffed to the brim with photos and articles sticking out of the edges. “Derry: An Incomplete History by Michael Hanlon” was written in the dotted lines on the front of the book.

The girls crowded around him as he turned the page. The first few pages were just covered in Mike’s neat writing, explaining the minor details of the first settlers in Derry. Ava groaned and flopped into Sophie’s lap, closing her eyes.

“ _Boring!_ This is the super important book they’re all looking for in there?” she groaned. “Here’s the real twist; our parents are super boring.

George didn’t respond, but his face was burning up, embarrassed to have presented something boring to his friends. He began to flip through more frantically, but stopped on one of the pages. Callie let out a small cry, averting her eyes. That caught Ava’s attention, and she sat up once again.

There was a black and white picture pasted onto one of the pages. Sophie dated the photo back to the 1930s, noting how grainy it was. However, despite its graininess, they could still make out the car in the centre of the photo. There were bullet-holes scattered throughout the car’s exterior.

The worst part of the photo centred around  what was hanging out of the car, however. Although it was hard to make out their faces, it was clear that there were five bloody bodies hanging out. There was only one face fully visible, belonging to a woman, caught in a moment of horror as she died gruesomely due to the gun fire.

The kids’ attention was mainly drawn to what was lurking behind the car, however. It had been the first thing to catch their eye, despite the fact it wasn’t the most captivating part of the photo. Lurking behind the car was some kind of strange silhouette. The first noticeable thing was its wild hair, and then its clothes, which appeared to be puffing out around the upper arms. Then, despite the fact it remained mainly shrouded in darkness, there was no mistaking the bright, watchful eyes, which seemed to be staring directly at the kids.

George went to turn the page, and as he did so, his attention was caught one last time by the photo of the shooting from decades ago. There was a slight smear of something red on the photo’s border, but he ignored it.

When he flipped the page, however, he then saw what looked like a bloody thumbprint in the corner. He turned page after page, and the girls began to notice it too. The amount of the red substance on the pages began to increase, and as they came close to the end of the book, it was difficult to make out Mike’s handwriting at all, as it had been so submerged in the substance.

“George, what _is_ this?” Sophie asked quietly, trembling as he continued to turn the pages.

“I don’t know! I don’t know, and I don’t like it!” he cried, but found himself unable to stop going through the book.

However, he did freeze upon seeing one photo close to the end of the book. It was of a building in flames, smoke billowing in the upper corner. Standing by a tree in the forefront of the photo was the silhouette from one of the previous pictures. Although the figure was still hidden, they could now see its toothy grin, and dozens of razor sharp teeth.

Its eyes still seemed to bore into the five kids. Callie gripped onto Sophie’s sleeve, and the two girls edged further up the bed. Even though they knew the figure belonged to the picture, it still didn’t make them feel any calmer. Even Sophie, who knew that the world captured in a picture was confined to its frame, felt like that figure could jump out at any moment and grab them by the throat.

George turned to the back cover, and then recoiled.

“Oh my god, what the fuck does that mean?!” Ava shrieked.

“I don’t know, but all of this feels so _off,”_ Emma commented, her voice high.

George jumped back, bumping into Callie and Sophie. Emma leaned over the book, examining it. After a moment of unstoppable curiosity, Callie and Sophie leaned forward too, examining the back of the book.

There were red, scrawled letters on the back. Now, there was no room left for pondering about what the red substance could be; the copper smell of blood reeked. There were only three words, but for some reason they couldn’t fully comprehend yet, it struck fear into the five kids’ hearts:

**_LET’S PLAY TOGETHER_ **

Perhaps it was due to the fact that they had overheard a conversation detailing how something supernatural was targeting them that caused them to feel so high strung, but there was something about the words that scared them more than any of the pictures they had seen. They felt like they were being watched. They felt as if the illusion of safety was being shattered. They felt exactly what their parents had feared—that they were being targeted by something they had yet to meet.

Then, the door gave a small beep, indicating that a key card had been inserted. George thrust the book under the pillow, as if that would ward off any malicious spirits. All of them were frozen as they watched the door handle turn downwards, unsure of what was on the other side.


	3. Chapter 3

 

  _The Overlook, Room 610, May 29th, 2019, 12:06am._

They stared at the door as it slowly opened. Astrid pattered towards the door, and when she saw who was on the other side, she began to purr. Sophie wondered how cats tended to react to unknown dangers, but before she could have much time to dwell on it, she saw someone emerge into the room.

“Astrid!” Eddie cried happily, picking up the cat.

Her purring grew louder as she nuzzled her head against his legs. He picked her up, and as he doted over the cat, he failed to notice the kids at first as they tried to compose themselves. Sophie felt a huge wave of relief wash over her as soon as she saw her father. Whatever had written the note on the back of Mike’s book had yet to come after them.

Her heart was still hammering rapidly, though, and she couldn’t fully relax after the strange experience with the book. Looking around at her friends, she saw they also still looked quite tense. Emma was glancing around at everyone as well, and then furrowed her brows.

“Pretend everything’s cool,” she whispered as quietly as she could, so Eddie wouldn’t hear.

Beverly entered the room next, and as she did, Eddie turned towards the kids. As Sophie attempted to calm her shaking hands, she noticed, with relief, that the two adults didn’t look suspicious. They could hear other voices out in the hall, indicating that the conversation inside the other room was over, and that the adults were coming to check on the kids.

“So, how’s the movie?” Beverly asked nonchalantly.

“Pretty boring. All it is so far is usual cheap fart humour,” Emma said with a shrug.

Callie was impressed to see how quickly her sister could lie and act like they had been focused on the movie in front of them the entire time, instead of eavesdropping on the disturbing conversation in the next room. However, she knew Emma too well, and could see that she was trying hard to hide that she was processing everything that had happened in the last few minutes.

Emma was carefully watching her mother, wondering if she would tell they what they had been discussing inside. She remained quiet, instead glancing over at the television screen to see what they were watching.  _So, you’re just not going to tell us that our lives are potentially in danger?_ , she thought, and glanced at the pillow that hid the book. She decided that if her mother was going to hide such important information, she would be secretive too.

Their attention was drawn to Richie and Ben, who followed Eddie and Beverly inside. At this stage, the kids were trying their best to hide the shock they had felt from earlier, and the two men didn’t recognize anything outside of the norm.

”You kids doing alright?” Ben asked.

”Just great!” Callie said, her tone wavering a little, bit to her luck, her father didn’t notice.

Sophie raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised to see how calm the adults seemed to be after what they had discussed in the connecting room. However, upon closer inspection, she saw that they were trying just as hard to hide their fear.

Eddie’s face was pale, and he had a distant look in his eyes. Richie had walked over to him, putting an arm around his waist. Even though Sophie suspected they didn’t know, she had come to learn that was Richie’s silent way of comforting Eddie when there was something bothering him badly.

Beverly was attempting to appear casual, but it was difficult to ignore how she was wringing her hands anxiously. When she saw that her daughters were looking at her, she forced a smile. She visibly relaxed a little when Ben stepped closer to her, even though he was looking equally as anxious.

Then, their attention was drawn to the sound of voices from the other room, which were now fully audible due to the fact that the doors to both rooms were open.

“How do you even _know?_ This could all be—” Stan snapped.

“I know you’re scuh-scuh-scared. I am t-t-too, but we need to be cuh-cautious for th-th-th—” Bill cut him off, trying to keep his tone calm.

“Hey, what are they talking about?” Ava asked a little too loudly.

Glaring at her, Emma pinched her arm. She yelped, and then stuck out her tongue at Emma as she rubbed her arm. At the front of the room, Eddie was staring out wearily into the hallway.

“They’re talking about taxes. Scary stuff, you know,” Richie said, a little louder than Ava had been.

Upon hearing Richie’s voice, both Stan and Bill stopped talking. The silence seemed to grow uncomfortably. Beverly glanced over at the kids, who were looking at each other suspiciously. They knew for certain now that the adults were going to hide what they were discussing minutes previously.

Beverly, however, thought that they were merely trying to figure out what Stan and Bill had really been discussing. She found that it was too soon to tell them about that, and also, she had no clue where she could even begin to discuss everything they had been through.

She decided that the best plan of action would be to try and make sure her daughters didn’t dwell on it. She approached the bed, and sat down on the edge. Callie and Emma looked at her curiously. For a moment, they thought she was about to explain what was really going on.

“So, the movie really sucks?” she queried.

“Yup,” Emma replied shortly, still disappointed that her mother was hiding the truth from them.

“Well, how about we go find a better one?” Beverly suggested, and turned to Ben, who gave her a brief nod, smiling. “You in?”

Emma began to think about the approach she should take. A part of her wanted to be more hostile towards her mother for being dishonest, but there was a part of her that hated giving either of her parents the cold shoulder. So, she nodded as well, indicating she would like to come along.

Callie, on the other hand, didn’t need to debate it at all. She knew that, despite the fact she knew her parents were hiding something from her, that she would always be eager to spend time with them. Without a moment’s hesitation, she hopped up from the bed, giving her friends a small wave.

“Night, guys!” she called out. “We’ll see you later, George!”

He gave a small wave back. It had been decided that there would be two rooms split between the kids; George and the twins in one room, with Ava and Sophie in the other.

Emma got up from the bed as well. As she followed her parents and sister out the door, she looked back over her shoulder one more time at her friends, frowning. George lowered his gaze, still thinking heavily about what they had just experienced. Sophie sighed and shrugged, unable to offer any advice. Emma decided to try to act like nothing had happened, and followed her family out the door.

Eddie and Richie shared a look, wondering if they should follow Ben and Beverly’s lead to distract their child from the commotion outside. The decision was made for them almost instantly when Astrid began to wriggle around in Eddie’s arms. Letting her down, she scampered back up onto the bed, meowing loudly, still looking at them.

They decided that was a sign to spend more time with both Sophie and Astrid, instead of dwelling on the horrors that laid in Derry, which was currently over a thousand miles away from them. Instead, they perched themselves on the end of the bed, only half-watching the movie while they tried to gain Astrid’s attention. She only lazily turned her head from side to side while remaining curled up in Sophie’s lap.

As he called for the cat’s attention, Eddie’s eyes briefly met Sophie’s. They both froze for a moment, both thinking of the possible danger that was awaiting her. Then, Sophie smiled at her father in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. After a moment, he smiled back, feeling a little more at ease.

Of course, he had no idea that she knew all that had been discussed. All that he could focus on were his worries about the future. Everything that Mike had discussed was now swarming in his head, but if he was being honest with himself, the truth was that he had been deeply worried ever since the disappearances had started up.

Ever since he became a father, he had promised himself he wouldn’t be overbearing on his child, like his own mother had been with him. He wanted to give Sophie the freedom of childhood where she wouldn’t have to worry about contracting illnesses at every possible turn. So far in her life, she had been given that freedom, and Eddie wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

But now, he found himself worrying. He thought of what would happen when they eventually returned to Derry. His biggest fear was that some night, she might just be wandering the streets by herself, and as she turned the corner, It would be waiting for her. He hoped deeply that Mike was wrong, and that by the time they got back home, It would be gone, and the disappearances would have stopped once again.

 _That’s not going to happen, though,_ he thought sadly.

Then, he looked between his husband and his daughter. He watched as Richie continued to try and convince Astrid to come over to him. Sophie shook her head at him, continuing to pet the cat, who was purring contentedly at all the attention. Even though Richie attempted to appear frustrated at Astrid, Eddie could see that he was attempting to hold back a grin.

After a moment, Astrid stood up and stretched. Richie was about to celebrate his victory, but then, the cat pattered past him. She leapt onto the opposite bed, nuzzling her head against George’s leg once again, her tail swishing from side to side.

”Hey!” Sophie and Richie cried at the same time.

Astrid ignored them, pawing at George’s arm instead. He shrugged at them apologetically, but still looked delighted to have gained the cat’s attention. Ava laughed at that, and after a moment, Sophie joined in too. Slowly, they were beginning to relax again, instead of being seized by their fear of what was in that book. They had yet to fully see what It was, and as it was still unfamiliar to them, they could still try to push it from their minds.

It wasn’t so easy for the adults in the room, though. Richie looked up at Eddie, seeing the fear in his eyes. He wanted to say something to reassure him, but nothing came to mind. All he could do was hope that Eddie realized they had been through a lot together already, between fighting It as children, Eddie coming out to his mother, navigating marriage, and becoming parents. They had gotten through it all together, and Richie figured if It was waiting to get its revenge on them through Sophie, they would be able to overcome that as well.

Nevertheless, he understood Eddie’s worry. They had just wanted a normal life, after all, and that was hard to achieve with It’s presence lurking over them. Reaching over, he took Eddie’s hand, and he grasped Richie’s tightly.  _We can get through this. We’re pretty much unstoppable by now,_  he thought.

But, just like Eddie, he was still afraid.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 607, May 29th, 2019, 12:18am._

Eddie and Richie weren’t the only parents wrought with fear that night. In truth, all of them were, including Ben and Beverly. They tried to take their mind off that night’s discussion by watching a movie in their room with the twins, who both appeared to be deeply invested, their eyes fixated to the screen.

The movie playing was a period drama, a genre that was surprisingly a common favourite of the family. Beverly and Callie appreciated the intricate dress designs that were always present in a good film, and in this particular one, the designs ranged from simplistic to complex, changing from scene to scene.

Emma had a particular love of classic novels, and as the film was an adaptation of one of the novels she had read, she watched carefully to see how everything was adapted from page to screen. Meanwhile, Ben found himself invested in the main love story of the film, as he often did with old pieces. It was something Beverly often playfully teased him about, claiming that his poem was something straight out of one of those period pieces.

However, as much as the film was one they would usually enjoy, none of them were truly focused on it, especially not the two adults.

Ben kept glancing over at Beverly every few minutes, knowing that there was an awful lot on her mind. When she caught his eye, she smiled weakly at him, silently trying to let him know that she was fine. They both knew that she wasn’t, and she was heavily thinking about what potentially lay ahead. It was weighing heavily on Ben’s mind too, and he found himself wondering what he would do if Mike was right.

As she sat curled up near the headboard, Beverly was contemplating what she would have to do. She was almost certain that Mike was right about It targeting their kids, and she had already made up her mind that if It came for the twins, she would kill the monster without hesitation. That much was clear to her.

But, a part of her was still terrified of what would happen in between now and killing It. She worried that her daughters might be forced to face the same level of fear that she and her friends had been subjected to. She also wondered how the Losers were going to keep their children in the dark while they went to fight against It. It would involve a lot of secret hiding, which made Beverly feel uncomfortable, as she tried to be as open with Callie and Emma as she could.

However, she also didn’t want them to know about what they had been through. If she could, she would make sure that they never found out about the true evil that lurked in Derry, which was something beyond their greatest comprehensions. She wanted her daughters to remain carefree and untroubled by the horrors that prevailed.

 _I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe,_ she thought, glancing between her daughters. Callie looked back at her, confused. Beverly said nothing, and simply reached over to brush a stray strand of hair off her face. The girl beamed at her mother, and then turned back to the television.

Then, a thought occurred to Beverly that she immediately tried to shake away.

_I worry a lot._

She had heard that phrase enough times in her childhood, as her father had always used it shortly harming her. She knew she would never hurt her children. Unlike her father, she genuinely did worry about them, with no underlying malicious intent.

She had worried about them all the time.

* * *

 

_Hanscom Household, November 23rd, 2015, 2:04am._

Beverly had awoken in the night due to a sudden need for water. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up, noticing that the space next to her was empty. Ben was pulling an all-nighter, working on his latest project. Stretching, she got up from the bed, and walked towards the door. Rubbing her eyes, she opened it and left.

As she walked down the hallway, though, she froze. There was light flooding underneath the bathroom door. For a moment, she thought it was just Ben, but she could see his silhouette from his office down the hall. Tilting her head, she walked over to the bathroom door. It was unusual for either of the twins to be awake this late in the night, as they both tended to be heavy sleepers.

_Snip._

She could just about hear the muffled sound on the other side of the door. For a moment, she wondered if she had misheard. Coming closer, she pressed her ear against the door, unsure about entering just yet.

Then, she heard two more snips. As she was slowly waking up, she knew then that it hadn’t been a trick of her mind. One of her daughters was in the bathroom and using scissors. Without any further hesitancy, she opened the door.

One of the reasons Beverly burst into the bathroom so quickly was due to her maternal instincts; she knew one of her young daughters was holding something sharp, and that could end badly. However, another reason she had been quick to enter was because she couldn’t help but wonder if one of the girls was in the middle of doing what Beverly had done to herself as a child, not much older than they were now.

The moment she opened the door, the girl at the bathroom mirror spun around. The first thing Beverly registered was that it was Emma, now clutching the scissors by its base, keeping the blade at a safe distance. The second thing she noticed was that Emma’s hair, which was long and wavy before, was now unevenly cut up to her ears. A few locks were significantly longer than the others, but all it took was one glance at the sink to make Beverly realize that Emma had been in the process of cutting her hair up.

The next thing she registered was the way that Emma was looking at her. She looked like a deer caught in headlights; her eyes wide with terror. Beverly knew she expected to be scolded for being up late, for playing with scissors, but mostly for what she had done to her hair.

But Beverly felt no desire to even think of scolding her daughter. Instead, she felt her own worry build up inside her. Mentally, she was returning to her own childhood, and when she had suddenly decided to cut her hair off. She remembered how much she had cried as she did so, but felt free afterwards. She remembered _why_ she had done it. She did it for the purpose of escaping her father’s desire to keep her under his thumb as his little girl.

As she gazed at her own daughter now, she worried deeply about why Emma had done such a thing. Had she felt the same need to free herself somehow? For a moment, she wondered why she would feel the need to cut her hair for such a purpose. Frantically, she thought about it.

She knew for certain that it wasn’t because of Ben. The twins’ relationship with their father was so strikingly different from the one Beverly had with her own father. He never raised a hand to them, and even when he had to scold them, he always remained soft-toned and reasonable. Every time Beverly observed her husband and children, all she saw was pure love. There was no second-guessing or fear. Her daughters were happy and safe around their father, and that was all she had ever hoped for.

That got her thinking about her own father, though. She wondered then if he had found some way to contact her children, or even worse yet, had come to them in person. Al Marsh had never met his granddaughters, as Beverly had refused to let him be a part of their life. To her surprise, her father hadn’t put up a fight. Instead, all he had texted her was:

_You’re making the wrong choice here, Bevvie. Your man’s too weak to bring those girls up right. They need someone who’ll teach them how to be proper women, like I taught you. If you change your mind, give me a call._

The text had made her sick to her stomach. She had quickly deleted it, never replying. They had civilly exchanged Christmas and birthday cards, but that was the extent of courtesy she was willing to give him. She had kept him out of her daughters’ lives, and he hadn’t made any effort to fight his way into their lives, and that was just fine with her.

But now, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had been too lenient. As she now stared at her terrified-looking daughter, she began to fear that he had shown up unannounced, had told the girls he had been worrying about them, and then taught them the same lessons she had been taught as a child.

Her heart was hammering. She already decided that if Al had made an appearance in the girls’ lives, and scared Emma badly enough into cutting her hair off, she would teach him a lesson of her own. But first, her priority was making sure her daughter was okay.

As she slowly approached, Emma backed away, still holding tightly onto the scissors. She was beginning to tremble, and Beverly could see tears forming in her eyes. Gently, Beverly reached out and touched her upper arm.

“I… I… I’m sorry, mom,” she mumbled.

“Hey, don’t be sorry. I just want to know why you did this,” Beverly soothed her, touching the ends of her uneven strands of hair.

Emma was silent for a moment, and Beverly felt the tension grow with every second that passed. Internally, she hoped that her guesses were wrong, but it was harder to reassure herself when Emma stayed silent. She was about to gently coax her into talking, but before she could, the young girl suddenly burst into tears, causing Beverly to flinch.

“What is it? You know you can tell me anything, right?” Beverly told her.

“I…” she stammered, and then finally blurted out, “I’m _sick_ of people thinking I’m Callie!”

Emma continued crying Beverly froze for a moment, taking a moment to comprehend what she heard. There was no traumatic encounter with Beverly’s father to inspire Emma to do the same as Beverly had done as a child. All she had wanted was for people to stop mistaking her for her twin sister.

Beverly couldn’t help but start laughing with relief. This only caused Emma to become more frustrated. Still laughing, Beverly pulled her daughter into a hug, carefully trying to avoid the blade between them. She listened to Emma continue sobbing for a few more moments, the sound muffled as she buried her head into Beverly’s shirt, and then she decided to comfort her daughter.

“You know me and Ben don’t think you’re Callie, right?” she asked gently.

When Beverly had learned she was having twins, one of her biggest fears was the idea that she wouldn’t be able to differentiate between her children. But, in a surprisingly short space of time, she and Ben had come to easily differentiate them by their subtle differences in facial features.

This came as no comfort to Emma, though.

“Yeah, but everybody else gets us mixed up! Our teacher always calls us the wrong names, and so does Ava and George and Sophie and it just _isn’t fair!_ We’re _different!”_ she cried. “If I have short hair, nobody’ll mix us up anymore!”

Beverly held back a smile. She knew that this was deeply bothering Emma, but she couldn’t shake off the immense relief that this was something fixable, and not something that would give Emma lifelong trauma. Gently rubbing her daughter’s back, she turned her around to face the mirror.

“Do you really want shorter hair?” she asked.

Emma nodded quickly, and then, a slight blush rose to her cheeks. “I dunno if I did a good job.”

“It looks pretty okay, considering you did this all on your own,” Beverly mused, not wanting to tell Emma she did a terrible job.

Then, she straightened her daughter up. She tilted her head curiously at her mother. When Beverly held out her hand for the scissors, Emma immediately handed them over. Shaking off the last of her tiredness, Beverly stood behind her, taking the first uneven strand between her fingers.

“Now, let’s even this out,” Beverly muttered mainly to herself.

As she snipped away at the first few uneven strands, she could see a smile forming on Emma’s face. She still had yet to completely shake away the earlier fear of Al suddenly trying to force his way into her children’s lives. But, thankfully, that hadn’t happened. Her children were safe from the trauma she had faced when she was younger.

Minutes later, she and Emma left the bathroom, Beverly filled with relief that her daughter was okay, and Emma filled with joy that she finally found a way to differentiate herself from Callie. When they stepped into the hallway, Ben was waiting, having heard the commotion from his office.

As soon as he saw Emma with her new haircut, he lifted her up, telling her to turn her head from side to side so he could get a better look. She became giddy when he smiled and told her how pretty her new haircut looked. Beverly watched on, finding herself further appreciating how lucky she was to finally be a part of a healthy, happy family.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 607, May 29th, 2019, 12:18am._

_I worry about my daughters a lot too,_ she thought to herself, thinking of her father. _But I’m actually not going to let anything bad happen to them._

At that time, she knew that her main fears had been the thought of Al returning, and putting Callie and Emma through the same horrors she had faced at his hands. She mentally told herself she had been stupid for only worrying about her father.

There were threats far bigger than Al Marsh that awaited in Derry. She knew if her father had tried to hurt her daughters, she could take him down. But, she wasn’t so sure if she could take down the other monster from her childhood. _I thought we defeated It, but we failed. It’s back, and if It’s as angry as Mike thinks, my daughters are in way more danger than I ever thought possible._

She gazed at the twins once more. After all she had faced in her own childhood, she had vowed that she wouldn’t let her daughters face anything that horrible. That was a promise she was still determined to keep, even if she had to physically fight the monster all by herself.

As she looked over at Ben once again, though, who looked just as afraid, she knew she wouldn’t be alone.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, May 29th, 2019, 1:45am._

That night, the Losers were restless as they thought of their kids. All of them were thinking about what was awaiting them back in Derry. The major question on their minds was did It want to hurt their kids, or would the monster rather come directly after them? 

None of them wanted to return to Derry to find out that answer. All they wanted was to extend the illusion of being capable of living a normal life a little longer.

The kids laid awake until late, trying to cast away the memories of what they had read on the back of the book. As they tried to focus on sleeping, their minds instead kept returning to the note written for them, and the conversation they had overheard.

Something was waiting for them. It was something that had clearly terrified their parents. Although the kids had only gotten a glimpse of it so far, they were already terrified of what was to come.

Sleep didn’t come easy that night for any adult nor child. 

* * *

 

_Interrogation Room 7, Derry Police Station, September 1st, 2019, 1:25am._

“Can I stop you for a moment?” Alan interrupted.

Sophie stopped talking. She had only filled him in on the beginning of the first night in the Overlook. That night felt impossibly far away from her now, and although it hadn’t been as bad as what came later, she still hated thinking back on that night, as she saw it as the beginning of everything. 

“No offense, but all this stuff with the book can be logically explained. I’ve heard residents around here mention Mike Hanlon was working on a book detailing Derry’s history, and if he’s presenting an honest account, there’s going to be some unsavoury pictures in there. I understand why you kids got spooked,” he explained slowly.

He paused for a moment, wondering if she would object. Instead, she continued to stare at him with a hardened look. Once he was certain she wasn’t going to object, he continued.

“The blood, and that message at the back of the book? Sure, that was creepy. But it could have just been a prank. You mentioned that a group of teenagers took the suitcase with George’s book in it earlier, didn’t you? That could have just been their idea of a sick joke. So far, everything seems pretty rational to explain here, Sophie.” 

Alan knew he sounded cruelly dismissive of her story. But, internally, he _did_ believe that there was something more supernatural at work. He had witnessed supernatural occurrences in his lifetime, and knew that not everything could be explained away with the logics of reality. 

He was pushing her to explain further. The tape that was currently recording would become a part of the case, and he wanted to make sure that the Derry police were given no room for tiptoeing around the supernatural. They had tried hard to brush off supernatural occurrences in the past, and he didn’t want to leave them any room for doubt this time. 

Once again, he observed the girl sitting across from him. She didn’t seem outraged or upset by his words. Instead, she seemed to be contemplating what to say next. After a moment had passed, she spoke once again.

“You’re right, Sheriff Pangborn. So far, all of this can be explained pretty naturally,” she said with a nod. “But what happened later that night can’t.”

“What happened later that night?” he asked. 

“I left my room to go find George so I could look at that book again,” she said. “When I left, I bumped into someone who had died three years ago.”

Alan raised his eyebrows slightly, and leaned forward once again. _Now, we’re getting to the stuff that can’t be explained away by rationality._

“Well, elaborate on that,” he urged her.

Nodding, she then paused, thinking of how to begin to describe the most terrifying part of that night for her in the Overlook. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I'm sorry this chapter turned out to be so fillery! I just needed for a breather chapter in between the previous and the next one (which is about to get a hell of a lot more eventful!)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and if you can, please leave feedback!! Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick word of warning- there's some homophobia present in this chapter, so proceed with caution!

_The Overlook, Room 610, May 29th, 2019, 3:14am._

After hours of tossing and turning, Ava finally managed to fall asleep, panned our comfortably in the plush bed. In the bed next to hers, Sophie laid awake, seeing nothing but the outlines of silhouettes in the darkness. Several times, she had tried closing her eyes, but found that sleep wouldn’t come.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the book. As the hours passed, it began to take on more of a dream-like quality in her mind. She began to wonder, in the midst of their fear after overhearing their parents’ conversation, if they had simply just imagined the strange rage of the book. The thought that it might not have been real brought her some comfort.

However, she knew that it was highly unlikely that they all would have imagined the same thing in their fear. Her mind was torn, and she knew that the only way to settle her doubts once and for all was to see the book again.

George had placed the book back in his suitcase and taken it back to his room. Sophie figured after the eventful night they all had, he wouldn’t be asleep either. She figured that maybe if the two of them looked at it alone, they could try and calmly decide what to do next.

She sat up, and before she could fully think her plan through, she got up from the bed. As she walked across the room, she looked over at Ava, observing that she still remained asleep. She figured there was no point in even trying to wake her, as she would be too tired to pay attention to anything other than her exhaustion at this hour.

Pausing, she knelt down and fetched the hotel key card, already knowing that Ava wouldn’t be awake to let her back in when she was done talking to George. Then, after a moment of contemplation, she picked up her camera too. She had only caught a brief glimpse of the Overlook’s interior before entering the hotel room, but found that the hotel would make for some good photography opportunities.

Sophie glanced back one last time at Ava, relieved to see that after that strange night, she was able to sleep peacefully. Then, she left the room, the door closing with a click behind her. She wrapped the camera’s strap around her neck, looking up and down the corridor.

The Overlook had only been reconstructed in recent years, funded mainly by Danny Torrance, one of the three survivors after its initial destruction. There had been many modern updates to the hotel, with indoor and outdoor pools being built, as well as updated technology around the hotel. However, despite the hotel’s many modern updates, Danny had decided to retain the same hexagon-pattern carpet that had been used in the seventies.

As Sophie gazed down at it now, she found herself fixated on the carpet’s strange, almost hypnotic combinations of black, orange and red. She raised her camera, but then shook her head, deciding that merely pointing her camera at the ground wasn’t a good shot. _Besides,_ she thought, _can I really focus on taking pictures right now?_

Walking further down the corridor, she counted the door numbers, trying to remember which room George and the twins were staying in. Then, she turned away from the doors from a moment, looking at the ways the corridors had reached an intersection. The contrast of the hypnotic carpet with the cream walls _did_ make for a perfect photo opportunity.

Sophie raised her camera, deciding that a quick shot would do. She only spent a few seconds adjusting the camera for a good angle, and then took the photo.

The moment she did, the lights flickered. For a very brief moment, the hotel was thrust into darkness. However, the moment had been so quick that Sophie began to wonder if she had imagined it. Raising an eyebrow, she decided to look back on the photo she had just taken.

When she pulled up the photo, she saw that it had captured the exact moment the lights had flickered. The corridor was dark, and there was no noticeable contrast between the walls and carpet, denying her the colour contrast she had been keen to capture. She sighed at that, and was about to redo the shot, but then noticed something.

Her disappointment was quickly replaced by suspicion. There was a darker shade extending on the carpet, stretching down from the corridor on the right. As she squinted at it, she realized, even in the darkness of the shot, that it was a shadow.

Lowering her camera, she looked at the intersection once more. There was no shadow in sight, aside from her own. Confused, she looked down at the photo once more. There was definitely a shadow in sight in the photo.

It occurred to Sophie that her biggest concern of that night was no longer the photo album. Now, it was the inexplicable shadow. This was a mystery that could be easily solved, though, as the answer laid just ahead in the right corridor.

Keeping her camera slightly raised, she slowly approached the corridor. Turning to her right, she began to realize that her heart was hammering, and her hands had begun to tremble, making the camera sit unsteadily.

 _Calm down. This is nothing. Don’t be scared,_ she tried to tell herself. _You’re just freaked out from earlier on._

She took a step down the corridor.

The lights flickered once more, and this time, the power stayed out. For a brief moment, Sophie felt as if she had been thrust into a world far away from the Overlook, from Colorado, from this world. However, she was quickly brought back to reality when she heard the muffled frustrated cry of a man, complaining about the fact that his television had flickered out.

_You’re here. You’re in the Overlook Hotel. You’re with your friends. You’re with your dads, who’ll protect you from any danger that—_

Her camera was yanked forward. She stumbled as it was yanked, the strap rubbing harshly against her neck. Her hands let go of the camera, but it remained suspended in the air. Still feeling the pressure of the strap against the back of her neck, she ducked down, freeing herself. She liked photography, but not enough to be killed by her hobby.

As soon as she was freed, she stumbled to the floor, her breathing becoming heavy. The lights had yet to come back on, but in the darkness, her eyes were beginning to adjust. There was a large, looming figure now holding her camera. She wracked her brain for a logical explanation, desperate to tell herself that it was someone she knew. But, she knew that wasn’t the case. She was alone in a dark corridor with a complete stranger, who made her feel unsafe.

She felt paralyzed as she watched as the figure turn her camera around slowly. _Break it,_ she willed the stranger, _break it. I don’t care how expensive it was. I can just replace it when I get back home. Just let me_ get back home. _Leave me alone._

The figure didn’t break her camera, however. Instead, it turned it over slowly, and pressed a button. The camera’s backscreen illuminated, and Sophie could vaguely see the stranger’s eyes. They were the same warm brown as Eddie’s, but Sophie could tell it wasn’t Eddie. This was someone unknown to her, just with a mere similarity to her father.

As she continued to watch the stranger, she realized that they were flicking through her past photos. _Okay, okay. They’re distracted. This is my chance._ She found herself unable to get to her feet, due to how much her legs were shaking. Instead, she began to inch away slowly, still sitting.

She looked behind her. Richie and Eddie’s room was only two doors away, and she figured that if she could get that far and pound on their door, she could reach safety. So, with that planted in her mind, she began to sidle back further. The figure was still flicking through her photos, apparently unaware that Sophie was on the move.

She kept going until she felt her back bump up against the door. Looking up, she saw the room number. Then, in spite of her shaking legs, she forced herself to her feet. Breathing heavily, she willed herself not to look back at the looming figure. Then, she raised her hand, curled it into a fist, and brought it towards the door.

However, that hand didn’t reach the door. Instead, something clammy wrapped around her wrist. The grip was tight, and sent a chill down Sophie’s spine. She continued staring at the door with wide eyes, willing herself not to look at what had caught her wrist.

Then, she was pulled away from the door, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to look into the stranger’s eyes. Her eyelids twitched as she kept them shut, and she found it more difficult to keep them closed with each passing moment, as she felt panicked tears begin to well up.

“If my son let me stay in your life, I’m sure there would have been a picture of me in there,” an unfamiliar voice sighed.

Sophie’s eyes snapped open. In the darkness of the hall, it was hard to fully see the stranger’s face, but at the very least, she could tell it was human. She was looking up at a large older woman with grey hair, wrinkles set in her face. The only familiar feature were her eyes.

 _Who are you?_ she thought. Even though, for the most part, the person was unfamiliar, a voice inside her head was telling her that she did know the woman at one point in her life.

“Sophie,” the woman continued. “I’ve come to take you back. You were snatched away from me, but I’m here now, and I’ll never leave you again.”

For a very brief moment, she wondered if this was her biological mother. But then, thinking deeper, she realized that she couldn’t possibly have any memories of her mother, as she was only acquainted with her for less than a day. Besides, she was almost certain that the woman’s brown eyes were the exact same as Eddie’s.

That was when the woman’s words, and her familiar appearance, clicked with Sophie. She felt her heartbeat quicken. _No way, that’s impossible. She’s been dead for the last three years._

“I’m here to _help_ you,” Sonia Kaspbrak told her in a soothing tone.

* * *

 

_Kaspbrak-Tozier Household, July 11th, 2006, 11:04am._

Sophie never heard this story directly from her dads. Instead, she heard it from Ava when they were about ten years old, as she had heard the story from her own father. It started with a harmless suggestion from Richie’s parents on the day that he and Eddie brought Sophie home for the first time.

As soon as Richie sent a text to let them know they were back home with the baby, they had immediately made their way over to the house. Before approaching the door, they stopped to look at each other. It was difficult to believe they were about to meet their grandchild for the first time.

Neither of them, particularly not Wentworth, believed that Richie would ever have matured enough to raise a child. But, over the years, their opinions on that subject began to shift. This was mainly due to seeing the way he acted around Eddie. While he was still loudmouthed and boisterous, he showed a particularly considerate and gentle side when it came to Eddie, always making sure that he was okay after stressful situations.

After years of observing their relationship, and all the ways that Richie had learned and improved on being a caring partner, they could see that it was more than likely he would be just as much of a fiercely protective father. They knew it was also likely he would fumble at time. However, they also knew that they wouldn’t need to worry about how the baby was raised, considering he had Eddie by his side. Together, the pair would be able to provide her with a loving home.

“Ready to go, grandma?” Wentworth asked Maggie.

She blinked a few times. The word still felt alien to her. She supposed that the only way it would really sink in was by actually meeting her new grandchild. So, with a nod, she strode towards the door, her husband following quickly.

When she knocked on the door, she heard footsteps almost immediately. Seconds later, the door opened, and she saw Eddie standing there. There were dark circles under his eyes, probably exhausted after the three hour car ride, but he still looked full of life. Maggie smiled at him, knowing immediately that he was experiencing the new joys of parenthood.

“They’re in the living room,” he told them quietly, keeping his voice down to make sure the baby stayed calm.

“Hey! Is that gran and gramps?!” Richie called out, his voice ringing clear from the living room.

Eddie felt a brief twinge of panic and exasperation, but then remembered that Sophie had woken up a few minutes ago anyway, so there was nothing to fear. He noticed then that Wentworth was raising an eyebrow at him, tilting his head slightly.

“You left him alone with a two-day-old baby?” he quizzed.

“Only for a second,” Eddie said.

Then, he turned around and began to lead them inside. Maggie closed the front door behind her, and then caught up with Wentworth and Eddie. The living room door was open. The first thing that Maggie and Wentworth saw was Richie sitting on the couch with a small bundle in his arms.

As soon as Richie saw his parents, he stood up, keeping a firm hold on the baby, who was wrapped in a yellow cotton blanket. His parents waited for him to make some dumb joke before showing them their grandchild, but he didn’t. Instead, he smiled at them, and lowered the curve of the blanket that was shielding the baby’s face.

Maggie took a step forward, and gently stroked the baby’s soft cheek with her thumb. The baby’s large, brown eyes watched her with curiosity. Maggie couldn’t quite believe that she was looking at her grandchild, but she already felt that her heart was full of love for the baby.

She had no idea how she would react to seeing the baby for the first time, since it wasn’t biologically her grandchild. However, seeing her now, Maggie knew already that it didn’t matter. She already loved her, and would help Richie out at every opportunity.

Wentworth stepped forward then, holding his hands out. Wordlessly, Richie handed her over to him, watching carefully to gauge his reaction. He was silent for a moment, simply staring down at the baby in his arms. As Maggie looked over at Wentworth, she knew he was experiencing the same mix of emotions. She gently touched his arm, and he flinched slightly. He cleared his throat, still looking down at the baby.

“Well, she’s a much cuter baby than you were, that’s for sure,” he said shakily, lacking the usual deadpan snarkiness he used around his son.

“Went!” Maggie scolded, even though she knew he didn’t mean what he said. Richie appeared unperturbed.

“That’s the great thing about adoption,” Richie said, and then shrugged. “Besides, we all know I got all my ugly genes from you.”

“Richie!” Maggie cried, rounding on her son.

Wentworth and Richie looked at each other for a moment, and then laughed. Eddie joined in shortly after, and Maggie couldn’t help but smirk as well. The baby looked between the four adults curiously, reaching up with one hand. Eddie took a hold of her tiny hand between his thumb and forefinger, gazing at her as he began to speak.

“Her name’s Sophie,” he told them.

He then proceeded to talk to them about how the previous day, starting from the frantic journey to New Hampshire. They sat down on the couch as they listened to Eddie talk, discussing how the biological mother handled giving birth, and how, much to their relief, she had no second thoughts about the adoption. Richie occasionally tried to cut in with gory details about the birth, which prompted Eddie to quickly tell him to stop talking.

As Maggie and Wentworth listened to Eddie enthusiastically ramble about every little detail of the previous day, they began to think about how far he had come. They were thinking of the struggles he faced during the time he came out, especially due to his mother’s bad reaction. It was touching to see that him so happy, with his own new small family, especially after all the struggles he had faced.

However, that got Maggie thinking about Sonia. She had never been fond of Eddie’s mother, and had been glad when Eddie began to create space between them. But, at the same time, she wondered if Sonia deserved to, at the very least, meet her grandchild.

Her concern was clearly shown on her face, as Eddie began to trail off in his story. Wentworth and Richie were now looking at her, confused expressions on their faces. Looking up, she sighed.

“I’m sorry to bring this up, but, well, have either of you told Sophie’s _other_ grandparent about this?” she asked awkwardly.

Wentworth frowned, knowing that the atmosphere was about to become a lot more tense. He found that an impressive quality of Sonia’s; even when she wasn’t there, she could ruin a good atmosphere. But, he was also curious to know if Richie and Eddie had told her.

Seeing that Eddie had begun to fidget awkwardly, Wentworth decided to hand Sophie back to him, hoping it would take his mind off his discomfort. He knew that the question needed to be out in the open, bit he also knew that Eddie didn’t need to be totally uncomfortable. Handing back the baby appeared to calm him down a little, as he focused on rocking her slowly instead.

However, the question that had just been asked still weighed heavily on his mind. He and Richie shared a look. Similar to Beverly, Eddie’s contact with his mother had been sparse. Tension had begun to grow between them shortly after he came out, and it escalated into something irreparable once he started dating Richie. He had weakly tried to make amends, but found it difficult to fully embrace his mother as long as she kept spouting about how he was sick.

Over the years, contact between them had dwindled. When he got engaged, he had to endure a long, mournful talk from her, as she lamented the fact that he was a lost cause. She hadn’t attended their wedding, naturally, and the last time he had contacted her was to let her know they had been approved for an adoption. He had merely sent her a text about it, and he had come back to his phone to see several missed calls, but didn’t return a single one.

So, after she had made it abundantly clear that she was convinced he was ill, and how much she disapproved of his partner, Eddie hadn’t even considered letting his mother be a part of Sophie’s life.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea,” he answered his in-laws quietly.

“Not the best idea? Gosh, Eds, how could you say that? I think the thing that Sophie needs most in her life is a raging homophobic bitch—” Richie retorted.

 _“Richie!_ You can’t swear in front of her!” Eddie cried, briefly distracted. He held the baby closer to him, who looked up at Richie curiously.

“What?” Richie spluttered. “She’s two days old! It’s not like she’s going to remember the time I called her other grandma a bitch—”

“Oh my god, Richie,” Maggie commented, sounding absolutely exhausted.

“Fine, fine, I won’t say it again,” he said, holding up his hands in defeat. “But you gotta understand why we didn’t really think about calling her.”

Eddie bit his lip, feeling his discomfort grow more and more. Bringing up his mother was always a tense subject, especially since he hadn’t even considered the possibility of Sonia meeting her granddaughter. Sensing his discomfort, Maggie gently touched his arm, contemplating her next words carefully.

“I understand completely why you wouldn’t want her back in your life. Believe me, I wouldn’t blame you for not ever wanting to talk to her again. But can I make a suggestion?” she asked, noticing how Richie was watching her cautiously. Nevertheless, she continued.

“I would recommend giving her just one chance. If she doesn’t want to be a part of Sophie’s life, you don’t have to try and convince her. Let her go her own bigoted way. But… somehow, I think perhaps seeing her grandchild might… oh, I don’t know, soften her up a little. She might finally begin to see, now that you have a family, that your relationship isn’t just some temporary phase. It’s something that’ll last.”

“Mom, you’re coming from a good place, but that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” Richie told her bluntly.

Eddie, however, was silent, as he took in Maggie’s words. Then, he stood up, handing Sophie over to Richie. He took her, but looked up at his husband, bewildered.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I know it probably isn’t going to end well, but it’s worth a shot,” Eddie said. “I’m going to call mom and let her know she’s a grandma.”

Pulling out his phone, he strode out of the room.  Richie stared after him for a moment, and then turned slowly towards his parents. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Finally, he settled on giving them the best look that said, _‘What the actual hell?’_

* * *

 

_Later that day._

Richie was stunned to hear that Eddie’s mother had wanted to come over. Eddie told him that she had been curt and hesitant in her answers, but she had still decided she wanted to meet her granddaughter. Even though he acted like he was pleased at the news, Richie could see that he was also stressed at the idea.

Wentworth and Maggie offered to stay with them in case anything went wrong, but Richie had told them there was no need. He was certain they could handle anything Sonia could possibly do. But, the main reason for sending his parents away was due to the fact that he knew they always tended to clash with Sonia whenever they were in the same room.

Richie and Eddie briefly considered calling the Losers for help, but considered that an even more disastrous idea, since they would be even more fiery than Richie’s parents. The most they had done was send a text to the group chat to let them know that Sonia was on the way, and that they should stay home. The majority of them had been understanding, asking for updates when possible.

The only two who had slightly different responses were Bill and Beverly. Bill had asked several times if they were _sure_ they didn’t want him to come over. Meanwhile, Beverly had texted them a code word, explaining that if they texted her the word, she would come over to their house as soon as possible to take on Sonia herself. At that, Richie was tempted to invite her, but Eddie told him to hold off on doing so.

In the late afternoon, the doorbell buzzed. Richie got up quickly, but made a beeline for Sophie’s cot instead of the door, making sure that the sound didn’t wake her up. Eddie let out a deep sigh. When he stood up, he paused for a few moments, trying to prepare himself for what was possibly ahead.

Ever since he came out to his mother, he felt like there was a new uphill battle awaiting him at every corner. He had become tired of the constant heartache and anxiety. Now that he had a child, he decided that if Sonia wanted to give him more grief, he wouldn’t spend hours mulling over it as he did in the past. He would guide her to the front door, lead her out of the house, and out of his life.

The doorbell buzzed again.

Flinching, Eddie quickly strode out of the room and towards the door. Sighing once more, he closed his eyes, preparing himself mentally. _No matter what, you’ll be okay. At the end of the day, the two people you love more than anything in the world are still going to be here, and I wouldn’t want it any other way,_ he told himself.

Then, he opened the door. Sonia took a step back when she saw Eddie. She had a tight grip on her purse, and couldn’t quite meet his gaze. He felt that same pang of hurt that he felt all the previous times she had treated him coldly. However, he pushed past it, instead giving her a civil smile.

“She’s sleeping right now, but you can still hold her, if you want,” he offered warmly.

“I’m going to be honest with you, sweetie. I still don’t think this is a good idea,” she told him bluntly.

Eddie bit his lip, finding it more difficult with each passing moment to remain strong. He turned back to say something to her, but he wasn’t sure what yet. Before he could say anything, though, Richie poked his head out from the living room door.

“Mrs. K! As cheery as usual!” he cried out in fake delight.

“Richie,” she said with a stiff nod.

As she pushed past him, Eddie gave him a thankful look. Then, he made his way into the living room, and towards the cot. Sophie still slept peacefully, which he was relieved to see. Nervously, he lifted her out of the soft bed, hoping that she wouldn’t wake up. One of her hands twitched, but that was all there was. He then turned towards Sonia, cradling the baby in his arms.

For a moment, Sonia was left speechless. She simply gazed on at her son, unable to believe that he was really holding a child of his own. _Technically, it_ isn’t _his child,_ a voice in her head told her, but for once, she dismissed it. After years of paranoid fantasies of Eddie dying young by cancer, accident, or other means, it meant more than she could have ever imagined to see him take a step like this in his adult life.

She observed the pride on his face. He clearly loved the baby, just as she had once loved him. She still thought that he was mentally ill, and it was quickly approaching a point of no return, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate the child for it. On the contrary, she felt similar emotions stir in her to the time when she had given birth to Eddie.

“Oh,” she said simply.

Still standing close to the door, Richie raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw that Sonia didn’t hate the child. On the contrary, she took a step forward, holding out her trembling hands. Before he could figure out what was going on, he saw Sonia begin to adjust the way Eddie was holding Sophie.

“You’re holding her wrong,” Sonia told him softly. “She’s delicate. You don’t want to hurt her, do you?”

Eddie froze for a moment, stunned to hear that his mother already cared so much about Sophie. Then, he shook his head, and allowed her to slightly adjust the way he was holding the baby. Sonia continued gazing down at the baby for a few moments, and then looked at Eddie.

“Parenthood is a lot of work, you know that, right?” she asked him.

“Oh shit, seriously?” Richie cried out, feigning panic, and turned to Eddie. “Is it too late to get a refund?”

Sonia closed her eyes and counted to three, mentally forcing herself not to snap at Richie. Then, she opened them and gazed at her son with a soft look once more. He looked confused, clearly not understanding what was happening. He had prepared himself for more of her usual long talks to make him feel worse about himself, but instead, he found himself witnessing Sonia be gentle around his husband and child.

“I know it’s a lot of work,” Eddie replied.

“Well, I don’t want you—both of you, to face the challenges of parenthood alone,” she said, her voice slightly strained. “I’ll help you take care of her.”

Richie nearly stumbled backwards. He figured there had to be some sort of catch. He watched Sonia suspiciously. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned towards him. Very briefly, he could see a flash of disgust in her eyes, but then she forced a smile for him. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of what to say to her.

“You sure, Mrs. K? My parents already said they would help out,” he said.

“Well, you can never have enough helping hands,” she said, and then turned to her son with an almost pleading expression. “Right, Eddie?”

Eddie still remained silent, stunned at how his mother was acting. Richie turned towards him too, curious to see his reaction. He thought it over for a second. Somewhere in his mind, he was warning himself that this would end badly, and Sonia had always managed to hurt him in the past.

But, another part of him desperately wanted to see his mother as a good person, and someone he could easily make amends with.

“Right,” he finally agreed. “Thanks, ma. I think we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Sonia smiled warmly at him, then down at Sophie once again. Richie continued watching from a distance, wondering what the hell his husband was getting himself into.

* * *

 

 _Kaspbrak-Tozier Household, November 17th, 2007, 11:43pm._  

Up until one night in November, Richie and Eddie had come to believe that Sonia had no malicious intent. They believed she was truly warming up to their relationship. She still wasn’t overly fond of Richie, but she no longer looked at him with such disgust or malice, even when he told crude jokes.

The one thing they knew for certain was that she wasn’t faking her love for Sophie. She genuinely loved and cared for the baby, and at times, Eddie was worried that she would become just as overly protective as she was with him. However, whenever Eddie told her not to worry so much about Sophie, she never put up a fight, and trusted his word when he said she was okay.

She had been surprisingly helpful, often providing the couple with feasible parenting tips. Some of them were too overbearing for their tastes, but they tried to take everything she said into account.

A part of Richie still remained cautious around her, not able to forget the amount of pain and heartache she had caused Eddie for years. However, he was willing to look past it for his sake. He could see how happy Eddie was, finally seeing a side of his mother that accepted him for who he was. As long as Eddie was happy, that was all that mattered to him.

So, for a year, everything was okay. However, that changed one unexpected night.

Richie and Eddie had been out for the night with the rest of the Losers, deciding to unwind for once, considering it was long overdue for the new parents. They had called a babysitter, a fifteen year old girl named Danni who lived in a nearby house. It had been the first time they had left Sophie alone for the night with someone who wasn’t a family member or a friend.

As much as they tried to enjoy themselves, they couldn’t stop thinking about Sophie. Shortly before twelve, they called it a night, making them the first of the group to leave early. Beverly teased Richie relentlessly for it, claiming that parenthood was truly taking its toll on him. Unbeknownst to him, Ben and Beverly would leave shortly afterward, also consumed with worry about their own children.

When Richie and Eddie arrived home, they saw that there was only one light on in the house. It came from the living room, and through the open blinds, they could see that the television was blaring. Quickly getting out of the car, the couple were anxious to see how their daughter was doing. They knew that at this hour, she would hopefully be sleeping, and they had nothing to fear.

Once they unlocked the door, they walked carefully down the corridor, trying to avoid any creaky boards. The television could be heard, but it was turned down to a low volume, probably out of consideration for the baby.

Entering the living room, the first thing they noticed was that Danni was curled up on the couch, fast asleep. Richie double-checked his watch, surprised to see that she had fallen asleep so early. Eddie felt a little bad about staying out relatively late, and walked towards her, ready to gently wake her up to send her home.

Seeing what Eddie was about to do, Richie shook his head quickly. Eddie gave him a curious look, but Richie just grinned at him. Before Eddie could figure out what his husband was about to do, Richie approached the girl quietly. He held his hands parallel to each other, above her head. Eddie’s eyes widened, realizing what he was about to do.

Richie then brought his hands together slightly above her ear, letting out a loud clap. Danni jolted awake, looking briefly disorientated. She looked around confusedly, and then frowned at the man standing above her. Eddie sighed, taking a step forward.

“I’m sorry about him,” he said with a sigh.

Then, unexpectedly, Danni’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip, looking up at the couple. Richie and Eddie shared a suspicious glanced, wondering why she looked guilty of something all of a sudden. She stood up, swaying slightly as she was still disorientated from her nap.

“No, I should be the one who’s sorry. I should’ve left as soon as your mom came to collect Sophie, but I just got so comfy and conked out,” she apologized, looking directly at Eddie.

The pair took in Danni’s words with confusion. Neither had any recollection of asking Sonia to take care of Sophie that night. A paranoid thought began to bud in Eddie’s mind, but he tried to mute it as he faced the teenager once again.

“Oh, well, that’s okay. My mom didn’t pass on any messages, did she?” he asked.

Danni thought for a moment, and then shook her head. “Not that I can think of.”

“Okay, that’s all I needed to know. You can head on home,” Eddie told her, and then forced a smile. “Thank you again for coming out here tonight.”

“Anytime,” she said, smiling weakly at both men.

She still felt embarrassed over sleeping in their house after the baby had already been taken. Keeping her head down, she walked briskly past them. Eddie and Richie remained silent as they listened to her footsteps down the hallway, and then the sound of the front door closing behind her.

Then, Richie turned to Eddie with a pale face. That was enough to confirm Eddie’s suspicions that Richie was beginning to reach bad conclusions about this too. A part of Eddie wanted to believe that Sonia had innocuously taken Sophie to babysit her, unaware that Danni was in charge of minding the baby until they got home. All she had wanted to do was help, after all.

However, Eddie also knew his mother better than that. Even if her behaviour had significantly improved over the past year, there was too much she had put him through to make him believe that she would ever fully change. He had pushed that thought away for the longest time, but he knew it was true. His mother would always remain the same.

“We can get her back. There’s no way that your mom would have snatched her up, right?” Richie tried to comfort him.

Eddie didn’t respond. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that he couldn’t push the thought away. His mother hadn’t come her with innocuous intentions. Instead, she was showing her true colours. He began to shudder at the thought.

Richie frowned upon seeing Eddie so anxious. He was already on the verge of panic, but his top priorities were finding his daughter safely, and making sure his husband was okay. Silently, he wrapped an arm around his waist, and he already begun to feel Eddie’s trembling subside.

Taking in a deep breath, Eddie pulled out his phone. He pulled up Sonia’s number, and attempted to call her. There were approximately two rings before it cut to her voicemail, indicating she had seen Eddie was calling, and immediately declined the call. He then shoved the phone back in his pocket and faced Richie, no longer looking afraid, but furious.

“We’ve got to get to her house _now,”_ he said.

Richie didn’t need to even think about it. He strode quickly towards the door, pulling his car keys out once more, and then reached for Eddie’s hand. Pulling him along, the two rushed towards the car, preparing to confront Sonia on why she had suddenly taken their daughter away.

* * *

 

_Sonia’s House,  November 17th, 2007, 11:56pm._

When they pulled up outside her house, they were relieved to see that there was a light on inside, but then infuriated. Richie got out of the car first, slamming the door loudly. Eddie quickly ran after him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. That caused him to slow his pace.

“Let me handle this,” Eddie insisted.

Richie opened his mouth to protest, but it then occurred to him that if anyone had the ability to talk through to Sonia, it was Eddie. As much as he wanted to give the woman a piece of her mind, he knew his main priority was ensuring that Sophie was safe. With that, he let Eddie take the lead.

Eddie didn’t bother knocking on the door. He threw it open and strode into the house. He looked around, and then, from where he stood, he could see a silhouette in the kitchen. As he came closer to the kitchen, he could see his mother’s face come into view.

She was frozen in place, startled by the door suddenly opening. Sophie was in her arms, looking calm and unaffected by being taken from her home. When she saw her fathers enter the kitchen, she smiled and reached up.

“Da!” she cried to both of them.

As she wriggled towards them, Sonia tightened her hold on Sophie. She was gazing down at the baby protectively, and then looked up mistrustfully at Eddie and Richie. Eddie briefly put aside his need to confront his mother, and instead reached for Sophie. Sonia turned away from him.

 _“Mom!_ What the _hell_ is going on here?!” he snapped.

It was very rare for Eddie to ever snap at her. Hearing him sound so furious was enough to startle her all over again, and they could see that it caused her grip on Sophie to loosen a little. That was enough of an opportunity for Richie. He reached forward and grabbed the baby out of her arms.

Sonia reached back for her, but stumbled when Richie took a step back. He glared at her, ready for his husband to demand an explanation from her. However, his attention was quickly drawn to his daughter instead, who held her arms up to him, demanding a hug. He held her up, and then pulled her in for a light hug, feeling that familiar delight when she wrapped her tiny, chubby arms around his neck.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Sonia reach forward again. Eddie stepped in front of them, and Richie then heard that his breathing was becoming shallow. He was clearly afraid of confronting his mother, but before Richie could offer any help, Eddie turned to face him.

“Go back to the car,” he said quietly, “I’ll be out soon.”

Richie gave him a questioning look. Eddie gave him a simple nod, ensuring him that this was something he had to do alone. Turning around, Richie kept a firm hold on his daughter in case Sonia decided to come after him. All the while, Sophie kept holding onto her father, unaware than anything was wrong.

Sonia didn’t come after them. Instead, she remained in the kitchen, standing quietly. Eddie’s breathing was becoming shallower and shallower, which made it difficult for him to hold his ground. Soon, he caved, and pulled out his inhaler.

Seeing Eddie have an asthma attack finally broke Sonia’s silence and firm standing. She stepped forward instead, and gently touched her son’s arm.

“You poor thing,” she said softly.

Eddie, however, didn’t react well to Sonia breaking her silence. He batted her arm away and took a step back, glaring at her. Even as he drove over, he wracked his brain for a rational explanation as to why she had taken his child in the middle of the night. Seeing how Sonia had been reluctant to give up Sophie had given him the answer he didn’t want.

“Get away from me!” he barked at her. “Why the hell did you do that?! I’m trying to figure out why you did, but I _can’t!”_

Sonia flinched, and then sighed. She knew she should have figured that Eddie wouldn’t have reacted well to all of this. Then, she looked up at him coldly.

“I’ve let this go on for long enough,” she stated.

“Let _what_ go on for long enough?”

“Pretending that all of this is _normal,_ Eddie! It’s not! I know you love Sophie just as much as I love you, and I love her too. That’s why I can’t sit around and let her be raised in an unnatural household. Both of you deserve better than that.”

Eddie felt a brief pang of pain in his heart, and a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He could almost laugh, if he wasn’t so horrified by his mother’s behaviour. _Of course,_ he thought, _it always comes back to this._

“You’ve made it really clear over the years that you don’t like the fact that I’m gay,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady, as he was always terrified when it came to discussing his sexuality with his mother. “But you’ve seen how me and Richie have been raising Sophie. We’re taking good care of her.”

“Honey, I never thought for one second that you weren’t a good father. You could be a bit more cautious about her health—”

“What, stopping her from doing _anything_ because it might give her some rare and unusual disease?” he interrupted, verging on fury once again.

Sonia took a moment to take a deep breath, willing herself not to argue with him about the dangers of the world.

“As I was saying, you _are_ doing a good job raising her, just like I did a good job raising you. But there’s one giant flaw facing you, just as it faced me. You had no father, so that made you seek out some other male figure in your life, and I couldn’t stop that. I _tried,_ but it’s clear you’re too far gone. I’m trying to protect Sophie from going through the same thing. She needs a mother, or else she might face what you faced,” she explained.

Any fear and heartache Eddie previously faced quickly disappeared, as he tried to take in his mother’s words. All those feelings were replaced by a dull fury. He couldn’t believe what she had just said, but at the same time, he could perfectly believe it. At that moment, he felt like an idiot for believing she had actually changed her beliefs, and had accepted him for who he was.

He had desperately wanted to believe she could change. It wouldn’t have erased the years of emotional turmoil he had faced due to her, but he believed they could have made amends, and he could have actually had a happy, healthy relationship with his mother for the first time in his life. But now he knew that would never be possible. He didn’t want her to be a part of his life at all, and especially not a part of Sophie’s life.

”I can’t believe you. You kidnapped my daughter because you were worried that as long as she’s raised by us. she might turn out to be a lesbian. You know how insane that sounds, don’t you?” he said.

”It’s not insane! I’m just looking out for my granddaughter, and if you were more considerate, you’d see why!” Sonia cried.

”I _can_ see why, and it’s because you can’t ever look past your own views to understand that there’s _nothing_ unnatural here! Unlike you, I’m still going to love and care for my child, no matter what,” he retaliated. “I’m not going to put her through what you put me through.”

That caused Sonia to take a step back, stunned. Then, much to Eddie’s irritation, he could see tears welling up in her eyes. He knew that she was about to take a defensive approach, and the thought of listening to any excuses she might have already exhausted him. He turned around, beginning to walk out of the kitchen, when Sonia grabbed his arm.

”Eddie, I do love you, I always have, and I always will. I just wanted to protect you. I couldn’t help you, and that’s why I want to help Sophie,” she said weakly.

At that, Eddie turned back around to face her with a fiery glare. She took her hand off his arm, alarmed by his expression.

”I’m fine, and Sophie’s fine. She’ll be better off without someone like you in her life. If you ever try to contact any of us ever again, I’ll call the police on you,” he said sharply.

She stared at him with her mouth wide open, and then closed it, tears beginning to stream down her face. Eddie shook his head and turned around, storming towards the door. All he wanted was to get back to his family, and leave his mother in the past once and for all.

”Eddie, _wait!”_ Sonia called out, clinging to the frame of the front door.

He didn’t stop, though. Wordlessly, he got in the car. Richie looked at him, taking in how he was shaking with rage, and there was something very hurt in his expression. He tried to think of what to say, but before he could, Eddie turned towards him.

”I’ll tell you everything when we get back,” he said. “But just so you know, we’re done with her.”

Richie nodded silently, sparing a look at him once again. He reached over and squeezed his hand, and then started the car. He observed that Eddie looked back at the house quietly for a moment, and then redirected his gaze to Sophie, who was drifting off in the backseat. He felt relief wash over him. She was safe

That was the last time Sophie had ever seen Sonia.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, May 29th, 2019, 3:17am._

That was the last time, until the night at the Overlook. Now, her grandmother was back and staring down at her. There was pity in her eyes. Sophie started back at her, trying to convince herself that this wasn’t real, and it was all in her imagination. She was still freaked out from the experience with the book earlier, and it was sending her mind on a wild journey. That was all.

 _That’s right. It can’t be real. She died a few years ago,_ she thought to reassure herself. Sonia had died of a heart attack three years ago, and it had left Eddie in a strange state for a few weeks. One night, she had overheard him telling Richie that, as terrible as it was, he felt like he was finally free.

That had all truly happened, as Sophie remembered it clearly. So, there was absolutely no way that her grandmother could be on this hallway right now.

The clammy hand around her wrist felt so terribly real, though. She pulled her hand down, trying to free herself. That only caused Sonia’s grip to tighten around her wrist. Feeling tears well up in her eyes, Sophie pulled again. Sonia only continued looking at her with that pitiful gaze.

”Let me go,” she whimpered weakly.

”I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help you,” Sonia reiterates, her voice soothing.

Sophie bit her lip, continuing to look up at her grandmother, wracking her brain for a way to get out of this. Much to her despair, she realized that Sonia’s grip around her wrist was growing tighter and tighter, and with each passing second, it felt as if the circulation was becoming weaker and weaker.

 _I need to end this before this gets any worse,_ she thought. Then, she thought back to the day before, which already felt so long ago. She thought of how Ava stamped her foot on top of Dean’s before running off, and how it had briefly stopped him from doing anything else.

Sophie knew she was at a disadvantage compared to how Ava has been, though. Ava has been wearing sturdy boots, and at that moment, Sophie was barefoot. As she continued looking down at Sonia’s feet, though, she figured she could still do something.

She brought her foot out, and then swung it back in towards her grandmother’s shin. Sonia let out a horrified cry, taken off guard, her expression betraying that she was almost offended by what had happened. For a brief moment, Sophie thought that cry had sounded distorted, as if it were mixed with a sound that came from something not quite human.

She had no time to really contemplate it, though. She knew that time was of the essence. Sonia had let go of her wrist, which meant that it was the perfect opportunity to start running. Taking off down the corridor, Sophie ignored how terrified she felt, and instead just concentrated on getting away.

Briefly, she considered going back to her room. However, she didn’t know if she would have enough time before Sonia got back up. So instead, she took a sharp turn and ran towards her parents’ room.

When she reached their room, she kept her head down, and then, as she went to take a step forward, she bumped into something. Raising her head, she almost recoiled upon seeing Sonia standing there. She leaned back down towards Sophie, and even in the darkness, she could tell something had changed.

Her skin now hung in paunchy wrinkles, and one of her eyes was seeping too far back into its socket. Her mouth was slack-jawed, and a foul stench arose from it. In mere seconds, she had transformed from someone fully human into a zombie-esque figure. Sophie bit on her tongue, resisting the urge to scream.

She began to back away, and Sonia took another step forward. Gazing into her eyes, Sophie could see now that they were no longer the same warm brown as Eddie’s. Instead, they were a strange, yellowish colour which instilled fear into her heart.

“How could you run from me?” Sonia asked.

“Get away from me,” Sophie said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Sonia took another step forward, gripping Sophie’s arms tightly. Once again, she felt as if the circulation in her arms was slowly being cut off, and she found herself too paralyzed by her own fear to run. _This is real,_ she realized with dread. _This is really happening._

“I need to help you, Sophie. My dear Eddie is still suffering terribly in his mind, and when you were a baby, I was afraid that same illness would be passed down to you,” Sonia said.

Then, she looked down. Even though there was still pity in her expression, there was now an undeniable coldness too.

“But I know your heart. You’re already suffering from it too, aren’t you?” she continued.

That almost knocked the breath out of Sophie. She had been dealing with her own private affections for a long time now, often debating with herself, and denying she was feeling any affection at all. She hadn’t opened up to anyone about it. Not her parents, and certainly not her friends. Her eyes widened, looking up at her grandmother. _Nobody’s supposed to know that except for me,_ she thought.

“That’s… That’s not…” she stammered.

“It _is._ I know you. And I know I could have helped you, if Eddie hadn’t been so cruel to me that night. I wanted to save you, but both of you rejected my love for you. And you know what? I died of a broken heart,” Sonia said, and her voice broke as tears began to form.

Then, she began to sob. As tears rolled down her cheeks, they dripped onto Sophie’s arm. Any brief alarm that Sophie had felt was quickly replaced by unexpected stinging pain. Looking down at her arm, she observed that there were tiny, red rings where the teardrops had fallen. They stung more sharply with each passing second.

She attempted to pull her arm away again, which only caused Sonia to sob harder. Sophie looked incredulously over the woman at the door behind her. _How are you guys sleeping through this?!_ she thought, feeling another flash of panic. She tried to pull her hand away, her panic being replaced by anger.

 _“Get the fuck out of our lives!”_ she snapped. Sonia almost recoiled, but then kept a tighter hold on her arm.

It was rare that she felt such a wave of fury. But, the story of the night her grandmother took her away had stayed with her for a long time. She thought of how much hurt and pain Sonia had put Eddie through over the years, and even though he thought he had been victorious, she had returned nonetheless. Back then, she had been too young to do anything to help out her father, but now, she was able to hold her ground and defy her grandmother as well.

“Let go, let go, _let go!”_ she yelled, not caring if it woke the whole corridor up. “None of us are afraid of you!”

Sonia’s shock was replaced by that coldness once again. Sophie froe, her anger disappearing. Instead, she watched the woman cautiously.

“Sophie, don’t you understand? Your fathers couldn’t escape me, no matter how much they tried,” Sonia said, her voice almost mournful. “And neither will you.”

She was ready to retaliate—Richie and Eddie _did_ successfully cut her off after that night, and never spoke to her again. Then, another thought occurred to her. Although Richie had a bad relationship with his mother-in-law, he didn’t need to _escape_ from her like Eddie did. But, the way that Sonia was speaking indicated that they had faced the same levels of struggle from the figure in front of her now.

Then, it occurred to her. The figure in front of her was the thing that had been kidnapping the children of Derry. It was the thing that had once terrorized her fathers and their friends; the thing that they were afraid would come after their children. It was the only possible explanation for Sonia’s phrasing, and for the fact that she now stood in front of Sophie, despite having died three years ago.

“I know you,” the figure reiterated. “And you know me now too, don’t you?”

Then, it grinned at her. Its mouth was full of razor sharp teeth. Sophie recognized where she had seen those teeth before; it was in the book that she and her friends had gone through earlier that day. She let out a small whimper and held her hands to her mouth as she stared at those teeth.

It opened its mouth wide, lurching towards Sophie. Tears streamed down her cheeks, certain that the last thing she would ever see would be the distorted face of her grandmother, coming towards her with that hungry look in its yellow eyes. She closed her eyes, waiting for the end.

But, it never came.

Instead, she felt clammy fingers touch her chin, and lift her face up. Hesitantly, she reopened her eyes. The thing posing as her grandmother no longer looked ravenous. Instead, it was gazing at her with a steely look.

“If you want to remain safe, come down to the boiler room at 1am,” it told her calmly.

Sophie could hardly believe her ears. After the surreal encounter of that night, the thing was demanding something of her. She wondered if this was a trap, or if it was being genuine about her safety being ensured by this visit. After everything that had happened that night, she couldn’t figure out the right answer.

“What if I don’t?” she asked quietly, unable to hide her curiosity.

“If you don’t…” the thing contemplated, and then, did a grotesquely similar imitation of Sonia’s sorrowful expression. “I’ll have to come and take my Eddie back instead, won’t I? Maybe I’ll take his husband along too. I’ll help them instead, since I couldn’t help you.”

Sophie shook her head frantically. If this thing truly was the monster that had terrorized her fathers, the last thing she wanted was for them to face those horrors once again, especially if she had sent the monster in their direction. _Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?_ she wondered.

The thing posing as her grandmother looked satisfied at her terror. It leaned down once again, and Sophie found herself staring into those strangely hypnotic yellow eyes.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Then, everything went black.

Sophie blinked several times, and eventually, a blurry scene came into place. A strange thought occurred to her: _Mentally, I’m three thousand and thirty one miles away from where I physically am._ Confused by the thought, she quickly shook her head and blinked a few more times. She wasn’t scared or confused by the fact that she had seemed to have disappeared from the Overlook. Instead, she let her body take control of the situation instead of her mind.

Eventually, the scene became clear. She was standing on a dirt path. Slightly up ahead, there was a field of tall grass, and in the distance, there was a sign post. Mist seeped across the land, making the sign difficult to see. There was the quiet sound of crickets in the night, creating an ambient background noise.

As she gazed up at the field ahead, she somehow felt that the sign post was important to reach. She couldn’t explain why it felt important, but she knew that it meant something significant. Then, a more disturbing, uncontrollable thought occurred to her:

_I have to stop what’s going to happen here._

Finally, she began to ask herself what the hell was going on, but before she could think about it any further, she blinked again, and found herself back at the Overlook, the lights now back on in the corridor. She looked around from side to side, finally realizing the strangeness of what had just happened.

 _What the hell was that?_ she asked herself. The most likely explanation, she told herself, that she had suffered a horrible hallucination in a dissociative state after experiencing something so surreal. Of course, it felt horrific, so her mind would have automatically conjured up an image familiar to a horror movie.

But, that didn’t explain why she kept thinking about the miles between the Overlook and the place in her mind. That figure occurred to her again: _Three thousand and thirty one._ She had no idea what it meant, or why she was thinking so much about that place.

What confused her most of all was the urgency of that final thought. She had no idea what it meant, and she had a feeling that if she tried to decipher it, it would only send her into a further state of confusion.

Besides, she doubted there was much more her mind could handle on that night. She had been through enough as it was.

Turning back towards the door she was standing in front of, she raised her fist, briefly considering knocking. Then, she thought of what she could possibly say if her parents did open the door. If she let them know that the monster that had once terrorized them had now come to visit her, she knew it would terrify them. The last thing she wanted was to cause them pain or stress them out more than they already appeared to be. Even thinking about the idea of It coming to her had upset them deeply, and she decided that the last thing they needed was to know that fear had become a reality.

She lowered her hand, and felt a pang of loneliness as she did so. _I’m scared,_ she thought simply, and felt tears prick her eyes once more. She held a hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs. At that moment, all she wanted was comfort from her parents, but her mind had been made up.

Taking shaky steps back to her own room, she stopped briefly when her foot bumped something. Looking down, she saw her camera. She picked it up and held it under her arm as she walked. Even though a part of her wanted to see the photo she had taken, she knew it was for the best that she left it alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry about the super late update!! Life's been insanely busy lately, and I've had very little time to write, but I finally have the next update ready! I hope you enjoy reading!!

_Interrogation Room 7, Derry Police Station, September 1st, 2019, 1:39am._

There was a brief period of silence after Sophie finished explaining what had happened on that night. Her face had become pale as she thought back on her encounter with the thing that posed as her dead grandmother. Alan gave her a moment to recompose herself.

He didn’t doubt a single word she said. She recounted each detail in a vivid manner, her voice shaking as she described her grandmother’s various attacks on her. He knew they were crossing past the boundary of the rational, and soon, he would have a statement steeped in the supernatural which couldn’t be dismissed by the police.

However, he knew he needed to push her further. They were still at the very beginning, after all.

He continued to wait, watching as she slowly became less tense in her posture. Once she had slumped back a little, he decided to continue questioning her.

“And you’re absolutely sure that all happened?” Alan quizzed her.

She stared at him incredulously.

 _“What?”_ she asked.

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you. But you did say yourself that you thought it might have been a hallucinatory effect following a stressful evening, didn’t you?”

She didn’t appear to doubt herself even after that question. She continued looking at him incredulously. She opened her mouth, ready to retaliate, and then paused to think. Alan watched as she went through his logic, and then sighed. She didn’t look as irritated, but she still stared at him intently.

“Okay, maybe at the time, it could have been dismissed as some hallucination. But after everything that’s happened over the last few months, I know that’s not the case,” she said.

“Explain what happened next, then,” he urged her.

Sophie sat upright, thinking back on the further events of that night. After what she had witnessed, she had returned straight to her room, too terrified to leave for the rest of the night. However, that didn’t mean the rest of the night was peaceful. As she would hear the following day, one of her friends had also faced a strange ordeal.

She shifted uncomfortably, unsure if she should be retelling an event she hadn’t been there to personally witness. But, the sheriff seemed intent on receiving the whole truth, and she knew for certain that her friend hadn’t been lying about what had happened that night.

“Okay, so even _if_ I made it to George’s room, it would have bene pointless,” she continued.

Alan looked at her curiously.

“He left his room as well that night. Do you already know where this is going?”

He had a premonition that he did know, but decided to let her continue retelling the story that George had told her.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, Room 609, May 29th, 2019, 2:04am._

When the twins returned to their room after the film, they looked considerably more relaxed than before. George, on the other hand, was sitting up tensely, fidgeting where he sat. Callie and Emma shared a look, briefly wondering if he wanted to discuss what had happened in the previous few hours.

Even though a part of them wanted to let George confide in them, they also didn’t want to spend another minute thinking about what had happened earlier that night. With that, they decided the best possible solution was to try and talk about anything else.

Emma curled up on the bed in the middle of the room, in between George’s and the one remaining empty bed. Callie looked between her sister and her friend, and then decided sat on the edge of Emma’s bed, facing George. The twins shared a look, and then Callie turned back to George.

“I bet Holly and her gang must be planning something diabolical for when we get back, right?” Callie piped up.

“Pffft, sure thing,” Emma replied. Then, in a deadpan tone, she added, “I don’t know if I can handle anything else they might have planned. I’m still trying to recover from what they did to us earlier.”

George smiled a little at that, and the girls were relieved to see that he was beginning to relax a little. At first, he was quiet as he listened to Callie and Emma complain about Holly and her friends’ behaviour throughout the year, but eventually, he joined in with a story about Dean throwing eggs at his family’s car one day. Emma had been quick to interject sarcastically with how badass that sounded, which caused all of them to start laughing.

They kept talking for a little while longer, until George began to notice that Callie was slouching back, her eyelids drooping as she listened silently to him and Emma talking. As Emma talked animatedly, George continued looking at Callie with concern.

He knew she was too polite to interrupt the conversation. So, he decided to yawn and stretch, causing Emma to trail off. He gave the girls an apologetic look, and climbed under the covers.

“I’m still pretty jetlagged. You two mind if I get some sleep?” he said.

Emma shrugged, indicating it was fine. Callie smiled at him, and then went to the last free bed. The twins turned off their bedside amps, and George went to turn his off as well, but hesitated. He knew he’d be lying if he said that he felt completely relaxed after earlier. He felt like what they had witnessed, as well as overheard, needed to be discussed in detail.

Callie and Emma saw that there was something else he was itching to say. Callie tensed up, unsure if she wanted to start thinking about earlier. Emma noticed her sister tense up, and turned back to George.

“We’ll talk more in the morning,” Emma said with a certain firmness in her tone. She didn’t need to mention the night’s events for them to understand what she meant by talking more in the morning.

George opened his mouth again, wondering if he should protest that this was something they needed to talk about, but then decided against it. Seeing how tense the twins had become at the idea of bringing up that night’s events again made him decide to put it aside.

As badly as he wanted to discuss it, he didn’t want to do it at the expense of his friends’ comfort. He reached over and turned out his bedside lamp too.

“Sure. Talk to you guys tomorrow.”

The room was flooded in darkness. Within minutes, the twin fell asleep. George could hear their soft breathing, and he was relieved that they had managed to fall asleep without any issues. He was initially worried that all of them would toss and turn all night, unable to forget what their parents had been talking about.

While Callie and Emma appeared to be okay, he was finding it difficult to go to sleep. He turned to the side, looking at the glowing red letters of the clock. It was late enough, and he knew it would be pointless to try to sleep. He needed to find a way to pass the hours by.

At first, he was drawn back to the book, which was zipped away in his suitcase. However, as soon as the idea entered his head, he immediately cast it aside. It didn’t sound like a good idea to explore that book alone, given what he and his friends had witnessed when they explored it as a group.

Sitting up, he sighed. _What can I do?_ he thought. Mainly, he wanted to confront the issue at hand. If he was as bold as Ava, he would have woken all his friends up at that very moment, woke up all their parents, and demanded an explanation of what they had been talking about, and how it connected with the contents of the book Mike had been composing.

But, George wasn’t that bold. He could see that his friends didn’t want to delve into it any further, and judging by how distressed his fathers had sounded, he didn’t want to cause them any further upset. Mentally, he promised them he would stay safe from any harm that tried to seek him out, but he already was unsure if he had any way of avoiding potential upcoming danger.

He shuddered at the thought of not being safe. All his life, his fathers had been protective of him. When he had been bullied in fourth grade, they had immediately approached his teacher about the troublesome student picking on him, and whatever they had said to the teacher had brought the bullying to an end—although he had to admit Ava probably helped out a lot with that case too, after she had twisted his arm behind his back until he promised to leave George alone.

His parents tended to be open and honest with him, and encouraged him to be just as honest with them. He trusted them deeply, and knew that whenever they hid anything from him, he knew it was for his own good. If they weren’t telling him about exactly what It was, or why it possibly wanted to hurt them, he knew he shouldn’t pursue the question any further.

But he found it difficult to simply let go. He was relieved that Callie and Emma were able to push it from their minds, but he wasn’t able to do so. Trying to go to sleep didn’t seem to help him forget.

Then, he thought of a way that he could at least relax his mind. He got up, gathered what he would need for what he was planning, and quietly left the room so that he wouldn’t disturb the twins.

When he entered the corridor, he noticed something odd. He missed out on the ghost that would roam the corridor by an hour. For now, it was just a hotel corridor in the middle of the night, where he could hear the muted voices of other guests chatting as they strode towards their rooms. He pressed his back against the wall, hoping that they weren’t walking in his direction. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to strangers in the middle of the night, or worse, try to explain _why_ he was wandering the corridors at this time of then night.

Much to his relief, the voices seem to fade as they proceeded further down an opposite corridor. He heard a door open and shut with a click. Once he heard the door close, he paced quickly down the hall.

He slowed down as he reached Sophie and Ava’s room. He thought of Astrid, probably curled up at the end of one of their beds. He had briefly considered asking to pet Astrid for a while, as he found that petting her was always calming. She was an affectionate and playful cat who was able to distract him from any problems he tended to have.

He continued looking at the door for a moment, and then walked onward. As much as he loved playing with Astrid, he wasn’t sure if it was worth waking up and annoying the two girls for. He was certain that Ava would go from being irritated with him to teasing him in a matter of seconds over knocking on their door at two in the morning to play with a cat.

When he pressed the button for the elevator, it came quickly. He kept his duffel bag clutched close to his chest, focusing all his energy into not thinking about why he needed to de-stress. Mostly, he wanted to stop thinking about it, but he couldn’t ignore that niggling hope that his fathers would explain what was going on.

_Or does it even matter if they explain what’s going on or not? If It wants to hurt us, it’s going to hunt us down anyway, right? It doesn’t matter if our parents warn us in advance or not._

George squeezed his eyes closed, feeling a chill run up his spine. He found himself wishing he had stopped at the girls’ room and asked to pet Astrid.

The elevator reached the ground floor. When the doors opened, he saw that the foyer was quiet. There was a late-night receptionist sitting at the desk, but he didn’t look up at George. He continued scrolling through his phone, his eyelids drooping as he did so.

It was better for George if he wasn’t noticed. Quickly, he paced down the hall, following the signs. As he walked closer, he could smell the chlorine reeking out into the hall. Even though the smell wasn’t a particularly pleasant one, it still calmed him.

Taking a right turn, he found the men’s changing room, and quickly changed into his swimming gear. Walking towards the pool, he could see that there was nobody else there. That suited him even better. He needed a chance to clear his mind, and there was no better place to do it than the pool.

He felt a pang of guilt, considering that he knew he shouldn’t be swimming this late, and the receptionist would have definitely stopped him if he had been caught. He usually stuck by the rules, but he felt that after the night he and his friends had, it would be okay to make an exception.

Approaching the water, he dipped his feet in first. The water was cold, and gave him a brief shock, but he knew it would just take getting used to. He stepped fully into the water, submerging himself. Already, he was getting used to the temperature, and as he brought his head above water, he began to swim towards the deep end.

The motions felt relaxing to him. He felt as if his entire body had become lighter. He stopped, turned onto his back, and laid there, staring up at the fluorescent lights. The water lapped lightly at his face, but he was in no danger of drowning. For the first time since overhearing the adults’ discussion, he found himself genuinely beginning to relax.

He wasn’t particularly interested in pursuing competitive swimming. It was a relaxing hobby that he turned to time and time again when he was stressed. Mike, who also often began to overthink in stressful situations, had been the one to show him the healing power of hobbies. It showed him how, even for a brief period of time, it could distract your mind from whatever was bothering you.

George knew that late night swimming wouldn’t necessarily take care of all his problems, but he found himself grateful to have a temporary outlet. Even though he knew that once he stepped out of the pool, and returned to the hotel room, he would be plagued by thoughts of what could possibly come, he finally was able to briefly push that from his mind.

 _I wish I could stay like this forever,_ he thought, closing his eyes. He began to notice that the water was now beginning to feel lukewarm to him.

However, as soon as he thought that, he knew that was a lie. The thought of his parents, as well as his friends, facing some unknown evil force while he hid away was incomprehensible. Even if he was forced to confront horrors beyond his wildest imagination, he knew he would stand up and protect them.

He shuddered at that. As much as he liked the idea of protecting those he loved, he mainly hoped that wouldn’t come around. All he wanted was for his life to resume as normal, and that his fathers would never have to worry about that unknown evil ever again.

Sighing, he knew that even swimming didn’t provide a great escape. Once something began to bother him, he couldn’t let it go. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fully relax until he knew for certain that they were safe from any danger. All he wanted was for his parents to pull him aside, and reassure him gently that he had nothing to worry about, that everything was okay now.

Feeling a slight pang of sorrow, he knew he should probably get out of the pool, considering swimming didn’t appear to help. _Maybe I can still ask Sophie and Ava about playing with Astrid,_ he thought, and felt a little more optimistic at that.

As he adjusted his body to a standing position once more, he kicked his legs to stay balance, as they were no longer touching the pool floor. The moment he adjusted his position, he felt the water become even warmer once more. He tensed a little at that. It didn’t feel like his body had naturally warmed to the water, but rather, the heat had been turned up.

He kicked his legs again and pushed his arms out to push himself forward, but as he did so, he felt that the water was no longer as smooth to swim in. It felt like he was pushing against a sturdier force. Furrowing his brows, he pushed his arms out again. It had become even tougher to do so that time, and he felt that his arms were placed under a strain.

His heartbeat began to quicken. He knew immediately that something wasn’t right. He never had trouble with swimming before, and there was no possible way that water would be so difficult to swim in. Somewhere inside him, a voice told him that this had some connection to the book and the adults’ discussion.

Just as he made that connection, he noticed that the water had become a slightly darker tinge. He blinked a couple of times, wondering if he had imagined it, but soon realized that wasn’t the case. It only stayed a slightly darker blue for a few seconds. Then, as if a squid had released ink inside the pool, the water blossomed into blackness.

_I need to get out of here. Now._

Feeling a lump rise in his throat, he began to push himself forward, but found that it felt as if he was swimming in tar. The pool had become uncomfortably hot. Even though he felt like giving up and bursting into tears, he knew he couldn’t stop. With all his might, George kicked his legs and pushed through the sludge, holding his breath as he did so.

For once, he forced himself not to focus on his thoughts, but only the motions involved in swimming. As he kept going, he saw the edge of the pool come nearer and nearer. When it was in his reach, he grasped forward, ready to free himself from whatever he was submerged in.

“George, where are you going?”

He froze. A young, high voice had called from behind. A part of him knew that the best thing to do would be to grasp the pool’s ledge, pull himself out, ignore the voice, and run for his life.

But, his curiosity got the better of him. Slowly, and with some effort due to the sludge, he turned around.

In the deep end of the pool was a young boy. The first thing that struck George was that the boy was wearing a yellow rainslicker, which was unusual to wear in the pool. He saw that the boy had dirty blonde hair, and although he was young, he saw a vague facial resemblance to Bill.

The thing that had caught his attention the most, that had sent his mind into full panic mode, was that there was a torn, bloody stump where his right arm should have been. The brutal injury was made all the more striking by looking at the boy’s young, innocuous face. He was pouting at George.

“You’re not leaving, right? I wanna meet my nephew,” he whined.

George’s breath stopped. He had his suspicions about the boy’s identity, starting as soon as he saw the yellow rainslicker and bloody stump, but as soon as he heard those words, he knew there was no room for doubt.

He was now face-to-face with Bill’s deceased brother.

* * *

 

_Denbrough Household, November 25th, 2010, 11:04am._

The first time that George truly learned about his father’s dead brother was the first time that he had gone to his grandparents’ house for Thanksgiving. He had been four at the time, and for the first three years, Bill and Mike had brought him to Mike’s mother’s house. This year, though, they received an invite from Zack and Sharon, and decided to accept, as it was rare to get an invite from them.

Due to the lacking interaction between Bill and his parents over the past few years, George didn’t know his grandparents on Bill’s side as well as he knew Mike’s mother. As a result, he felt nervous about going to their house for Thanksgiving, feeling that usual shyness that cropped up whenever he came in contact with people he didn’t know very well.

As they walked towards the front door, George clung to the back of Mike’s leg, causing the man to limp a little. Mike stopped walking, looking down at him. He could see that George almost looked scared at the thought of spending the day with people he didn’t know all that well.

“Hey,” Mike said softly. “Want to grab my hand?”

George let go of his leg and nodded. He reached up and grabbed Mike’s hand, holding on tightly. Although the boy was still nervous, Mike could see that he had begun to calm down a little upon grabbing his father’s hand. Bill looked over his shoulder, noticing that they were slightly behind, but smiled upon seeing Mike attempting to calm George’s nerves.

Bill could understand how his son was feeling. Ever since he had moved out, his parents had become even more distant from him. He especially had felt that blow in college when he heard Ben and Mike on the phone to their mothers every night, and several times a week, Richie and Stan’s parents would call them. He knew how much their parents cared about them, and took a genuine interest in seeing how they made their way through adult life.

Bill, on the other hand, would only receive a call from his parents a few times am month. Each conversation had been stiff and formal, with long pauses. He knew they had no interesting in his writing, or in what he got up to with his friends. He wondered if, every time his mother spoke to him, all she could think of was how he had sent Georgie to his death. He knew that if Georgie were still alive today, his parents wouldn’t be so distant from him.

Occasionally, they did try to make an effort to be supportive. They had been amongst the first to visit him and Mike when they had brought George home for the first time. However, as soon as Bill told them what they had named the baby, Zach had become uncomfortably silent, and after a moment, Sharon had left the room, blinking rapidly as tears had begun to form in her eyes.

From that point onwards, Bill’s parents hadn’t been a consistent presence in George’s life. In Bill’s eyes, they weren’t necessarily bad grandparents, but he didn’t want George to deal with the same level of iciness from them that Bill had struggled through since his brother’s death.

To make up for his own childhood, he had treated George with extra warmth and affection, often spoiling him with toys and days out. Although George was a shy child who worried often, Bill could see that he was well aware of the fact that he was from a loving home.

All he could do was hope his parents would make an effort to treat George with the love and kindness that Bill had been denied for so many years. He felt that was a hopeful possibility, considering that they had finally extended an invitation for Mike, Bill, and George to spend Thanksgiving with them.

But, in spite of the hope he was beginning to feel, he also couldn’t shake the nervousness that always accompanied when he visited his parents.

As he stood outside the door, he decided to wait for Mike and George to catch up. He raised a fist to knock on the door, and when Mike saw that he was taking in slow, steady breaths to calm himself, he gave him a gentle nudge, still focusing on keeping hold of their son’s hand. Bill flinched, but then smiled at him, already feeling a little more at ease.

The door opened. Sharon stood there silently for a moment, looking at her son and his family. George stepped behind Mike again, peeking out shyly. Bill stood there in silence for a moment too, feeling his anxiety soar.

Then, she smiled at them. While it was a slightly stiff smile, it was still enough to cause Bill to relax, shoulders slumping. He heard footsteps pace in the house, and after a moment, Zach joined Sharon.

”It’s good to see you,” he said, his tone a little formal.

They both stepped aside, allowing room for the three to enter the house. They looked down at George, who made brief eye contact with them before he looked away. Bill instinctively took a step closer to him, and gently ruffled his hair, silently indicating that he empathized with him. He kept his eyes on his parents, mentally begging them to show George some kind of warmth, to make him feel comfortable entering their home.

He knew that if they would treat him kindly, he would become more relaxed around them. Mike’s mother constantly doted over George, and whenever they visited her, he was much more talkative than normal. But, he knew that Mike’s mother was a warmer person in general than his own parents. Considering that they could barely bring themselves to say their grandson’s name, he knew that George would always be anxious and reserved around them.

As the silence continued, he felt his regret begin to grow. Mike’s mother had made it clear that if things didn’t work out at Zach and Sharon’s, they were free to come over to her house instead. He moved one foot towards the door, preparing to wish his parents well, and quickly end this embarrassing ordeal.

”Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-We sh-sh-sh—“ he began to say, his stutter becoming worse than usual, as it tended to be around his parents.

”We should help out with the cooking, right, Sharon?” Mike quickly cut in, forcing a smile. “It‘s got to be a big workload to handle alone.”

”Oh,” Sharon mumbled, taken aback, but then smiled stiffly again. “That would be great.”

Bill raised his eyebrows at Mike, but Mike quickly shook his head. He wasn’t willing to give up so easily, and he thought that if this Thanksgiving went well, it could be the start of some sort of amendments between Bill and his parents. Their distant relationship from him had always had a heavy toll on him, which Mike had noticed since they were children, and if there was even the slightest hope of amending that, he wanted to take that chance.

”Bill’s been dying to tell you about the book he’s working on right now, Zach,” he continued.

”You have?” Zach asked, sounding slightly surprised upon hearing this. “Well, let’s hear about it.”

Bill stared at him in shock for a moment. This was one of the few times that either of his parents had shown interest in his work, and even though a part of him wanted to remain apprehensive, that was overtaken by the sheer need to jump on the opportunity and hopefully open up a friendly conversation.

Mike had begun to follow Sharon into the kitchen, but paused when he saw that Bill was looking at him, wondering what he should say. He took a step towards him, and leaned in towards his ear.

”Everything will be fine, I promise. If you need me, just call for me,” Mike whispered, making sure Zach couldn’t overhear.

Then, he quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Now, go on.”

Mike followed Sharon into the kitchen. Bill looked after him for a moment, and then taking a deep breath, he strode with Zach into the living room. He began to speak slowly and carefully, trying to avoid stuttering. There was a distant look in Zach’s eyes, indicating that he wasn’t truly paying attention. But, this went unnoticed by Bill, who was completely immersed in thinking his father actually showed an interest for once.

Another thing that he, along with Mike, had failed to notice was that George remained standing in the hallway. They had been so caught up in trying to break down Zach and Sharon’s icy exteriors that their son’s anxiety had slipped their mind. He looked frantically between the kitchen and the living room, trying to decide which dad he should follow.

He knew that no matter what room he went into, it would require being around one of his grandparents, neither of which he was comfortable being around yet. Looking around, he kept thinking of what choice to make, when he noticed the stairs nearby. His curiosity already began to grow. He already knew that exploring the upper level of the house would be the best possible option for him, as it meant that he wouldn’t have to force himself to interact with his grandparents, neither of whom he knew well.

So, with no one watching out for him, George began to walk up the stairs. He used one hand to cling to each bar as he walked. Due to his short height and the steepness of each step, he had to raise each leg high as he walked up. As he got closer to the top, he could see that the upper floor was dark, the carpet was old and tattered.

Once he approached the upper floor, he felt a pant of fear upon seeing how dark it was. He was tempted to turn around and run back downstairs, but even as he willed himself to turn around, he couldn’t. Instead, he kept staring into the dark hallway. His intense need to explore the area was much stronger than his fear of the dark.

Slowly, he began to walk down the hallway. There were a few streams of light from the ajar doors of his grandparents’ bedroom, and Bill’s old room. He ignored the open doors, instead choosing to walk toward one of the doors that remained shut.

One of the floorboards creaked loudly as he walked across it. That caused him to jump, and start shaking, but it didn’t fully perturb him. He briefly glanced over his shoulder, wondering if one of his parents had decided to follow the noise, but there was no one behind him. He kept going until he was in front of the closed door.

George couldn’t explain why he was drawn to the room, exactly, but he knew that since he had gotten this far, he wouldn’t turn back now. Nobody had come after him—the room was his to explore. Reaching up, he pulled down on the door handle. The door opened, and when he let go of the handle, the door creaked back, as if of its own accord.

Looking down at his feet, George took a few steps into the room, but then froze. Something felt odd. The air inside the room he entered felt vastly different from the rest of the house. The room was stuffy, and although George didn’t realize it, he was he first person to enter the room in a long time. The previous inhabitant of the room had died twenty-two years ago.

Bill had only entered the room a few times after his brother’s death, and his parents hardly ever went inside. As a result, the room hadn’t been exposed to fresh air for a long time.

George raised his head. Looking around frantically, he felt a twinge of fear, and wanted to turn around and go back downstairs, into the safety of his fathers’ presences. He felt that he had stepped back in time by entering the room.

The room clearly belonged to a child a long time ago. The bed had a quilted, colourful blanket, which had been neatly laid out. Every surface of the room seemed to have a sheet of dust across its surface. The windows were covered in grime, clearly gone a long time without being cleaned.

The wallpaper was a faded green, nearly white now, with circus animals sketched on. Across the walls, there were some drawings pinned up, most of which were poorly coloured. George continued to examine them, until he noticed a picture out of place. It was the only photograph on the wall.

The photo was now faded, but he was still able to make out who was in it. There were four people—the first person he recognized was Bill, but much younger. He also vaguely recognized his grandparents, but there was a fourth person there that he couldn’t recognize. He appeared to be younger than Bill, had blonde hair and a big, toothy grin.

George squinted, briefly forgetting how afraid he was as he tried to work out if he knew the person or not. He figured he didn’t, and looked away from the photo. He proceeded to walk further around the room, looking around.

Eventually, he spotted a bookshelf. In particular, he noticed a large scrapbook shoved back into its spot hastily. There was a red substance clinging to its edges, sealing it between the two books pressed against it. He couldn’t tell what the red substance was, as the smell had long faded, but it didn’t perturb him.

He took another step towards the shelf, reaching up towards the book. His balance was shaky as he focused all his energy into leaning up on his toes. His hands came closer to grasping the book. However, just as he went to touch it, something seized his arm and dragged him backwards.

He let out a terrified cry, feeling his building fear suddenly surge up. He knew he hadn’t imagined it, as there was still a tight pressure around his arm. His immediate assumption was that, by opening the door to the room, he had attracted the attention of malevolent spirits that had been resting all this time.

Fearing for his young life, he burst into tears. He made no effort to fight back, or wriggle away. Instead, he looked slowly up at what had grabbed him. To his shock, he didn’t see anything supernatural. He was looking up at his grandmother, who now looked both furious and upset.

“You are _never_ allowed to go in here,” she said, her voice shaky, as she was on the verge of tears. “All because you have the same name as him—”

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Mike asked from down the hall.

There were further footsteps. Zach, Mike, and Bill soon reached the doorframe too. Bill’s eyes widened when he saw the scene in front of him. Mike looked on in shock too, taking a step forward. They both looked instantly alarmed, and there was an unmissable hint of anger on both their faces.

Seeing that they were angry only caused George to cry harder. He had managed to upset them with his wandering off. It wasn’t often that he got into trouble, but when he did, he felt absolutely terrible about it. He opened his mouth, wanting to say sorry, but he couldn’t do anything aside from sobbing.

Mike took another step toward George, kneeling down. He pulled Sharon’s hand away from him and picked him up. George stared at him through his tears, confused about why he wasn’t being scolded. He soon understood why his parents had looked angry once he heard Mike begin to speak.

“I’m sorry to be blunt, but you can’t talk to our child like that. He doesn’t know anything about Georgie, so you can’t reprimand him for not knowing any better,” Mike said firmly. He tried to keep himself calm and collected, as he was still determined to keep a peaceful atmosphere, but he was only able to thinly veil how upset he was with his in-laws.

That didn’t calm Sharon or Zach down. Instead, they looked over at Bill. Sharon’s fury had been replaced by hurt for a brief moment, but then she looked furious with him once more.

“You never told him?” she asked, her voice soft with disbelief.

“M-M-Mom, I-I-I cuh-cuh-couldn’t—” Bill replied.

“Couldn’t what? You couldn’t tell him who you named him after? You couldn’t tell him that much, after what you did to Georgie—” Sharon began to snap, but then stopped herself, realizing what she just said. “I-I meant, after what he went through…”

Zach took a step forward, putting a hand on her arm. Bill stared at his parents incredulously. It was no secret to him that they blamed him for Georgie’s death, but hearing it stated so explicitly struck him harshly. He began to tremble, not knowing how to respond to that. After a moment, he finally looked at Sharon again.

“A-A-All these years, y-y-you i-i-isolated me a-a-after Juh-Georgie wuh-went missing, b-b-but it wasn’t muh-my fault. I-I-I never wuh- _wanted_ anything bad to happen t-t-to him,” he said, and paused. “I-I-It’s guh-good to know I-I-I was ruh-right. Y-You’ve always bluh-blamed me f-f-for what huh-happened.”

“She never said she blamed you,” Zach mumbled, unable to meet Bill’s eyes.

At this point, George had ceased to stop crying, instead looking between his father and grandmother, as he tried to figure out what they were talking about. Mike looked worriedly at them, and then stepped in front of Bill, facing Sharon.

“Okay, I think now’s a good time to mention that I don’t feel comfortable leaving my mom alone on Thanksgiving. We’ll call back another day,” he said.

Everyone, aside from George, knew Mike was lying. His mother would have been content to let them stay there for as long as they wanted, just as long as she knew Mike and his family were having a good time. However, he knew that she wouldn’t want him to stay in this intense situation. It was a conversation that Bill definitely needed to have with his parents, but not when everyone’s emotions were so high-strung.

Bill raised no objection to what Mike said, and quickly walked out of the room. Mike shifted uncomfortably as he was left alone with his in-laws, who were looking blankly after their son. Sharon glanced briefly at George, who remained snug in Mike’s arms.

“See you another time,” Mike said.

Neither Zach nor Sharon said anything in return. With that, Mike followed his husband, keeping a gentle hold on his son. George gazed back at the room for a moment, but as it drifted from sight, he found that he didn’t regret leaving it behind.

Minutes later, Mike had strapped George into the backseat, and then got into the front. He saw that Bill had his head pressed against the top of the steering wheel, his eyes closed and forehead creased. Mike knew that he was replaying Sharon’s words over and over again in his head.

He reached over and gently squeezed his hand. Bill opened his eyes and gave him a thankful look. He was ready to ask if he was alright, but before he could, a voice piped up from behind.

“I’m named after somebody?” George asked quietly.

Mike and Bill tensed up, watching each other cautiously. They knew that there would come a day where they would explain to him everything about what happened to Georgie, but they hadn’t expected that day would come so soon. They knew they could simply tell him that he had been named after Bill’s younger brother, but they also knew that after the way Zach and Sharon had talked, that wouldn’t have been a satisfying answer for George.

So, they began to slowly explain who Georgie was. Bill had recounted a few lighthearted memories, hoping that would be enough to distract his son. However, George was still staring at them curiously. After a pause, Bill then explained that one day, he had made a paper boat for him, he had gone to sail it out in the rainy streets, and had mysteriously disappeared.

George was silent for a moment after that, and then looked up at his fathers with a worried expression.

“Do you think something bad happened to him?” he asked.

Bill and Mike shared a look. They had already known very well what exactly had happened to Georgie, but that part of the story was one that they didn’t know if they would ever want to tell their son about.

“Yes, we do think so,” Mike replied softly.

He didn’t believe in being dishonest with George, but when he saw the terrified look on his face, he began to wonder if he should have just told a lie.

“What i-is it?” Bill asked.

“Is something bad going to happen to me now?” George blurted out, sitting upright. “Since we got the same name n’ all.”

At that, Bill unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned around to fully face him. He took his tiny hands in his own, forcing him to look directly at him.

“Nothing b-b-bad is e- _ever_ going to happen t-t-to you,” Bill told him firmly. “I pruh-pruh- _promise_ that.”

Over his shoulder, George could see Mike give him a reassuring nod. He sat back, then, feeling his terror finally slip away for the first time since he had explored Georgie’s room. He was safe, and he was convinced he always would be, since Bill had said so.

* * *

 

_The Overlook, May 29th, 2019, 2:38am._

For the most part, George had felt completely safe and secure, until that night at the Overlook. Now, as he faced the boy he had been named after, he felt that same terror arise in him from when he had first entered Georgie’s room.

 _I need to get out of here,_ he thought once again. He forced himself to turn away from the zombie-like boy, and began to push his arms painstakingly through the tarry water.

“Hey, don’t go,” Georgie called out, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.

Biting his lip, George felt a pang of guilt arise in him. Even though he knew the six-year-old in front of him wasn’t normal, he still couldn’t stand the thought of making a little kid cry. Against his survival instincts, he craned his head over his shoulder.

When they made eye contact, Georgie blinked back his tears, instead grinning at him.

_Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!_

“I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time,” Georgie said.

“O-Okay?”

Georgie looked unsatisfied by the older boy’s reaction, which verged more on confusion and bewilderment than anything else. He pouted at him, and then, as if the water was still easy to navigate, he began to swim towards him. He stopped when he was a few feet away, and then frowned at him.

“I’m sorry, George. You’re not safe with Bill. Something bad might get you,” he lamented.

“What are you talking about?” George asked quietly.

“I got killed ‘cause of him. He wasn’t able to protect me, and he’s not gonna be able to protect you.”

Slowly, George felt a shift in the water. He felt as if his legs were being pulled toward the boy. He wondered if it was just his imagination, but then, he could feel his whole body being pulled forward. Looking around him, he could see that the water had built up currents, which were now being dragged in Georgie’s direction.

The boy’s grin went from innocuous and joyful to sinister.

“Join me, George. You don’t have any choice.”

Letting out a terrified cry, George turned back around. The ledge of the pool was drifting away from him, but he refused to let himself be sucked in. Despite the force of the current, he was still able to reach forward, and when his fingers were mere inches away from the ledge, he gripped onto it.

He pulled himself toward it, using all the energy in his body to do so. Once he had gripped onto it with both hands, the force of the water became more vicious. He could now hear it rushing around him. His grip was slowly loosening, but as he felt it become looser, it only urged him to hold on tighter.

 _“It’s not true!”_ George screamed out to the boy. _“Dad’s not gonna let anything happen to me!”_

His sudden outburst seemed to have an effect on Georgie. The water became still once more. With a sigh of relief, George let go of the ledge. He decided not to look behind him, not wanting to see Georgie’s face once again. He went to pull himself out of the pool, but this time, when he tried to move, it felt as if his whole body refused to budge.

He panicked, fearing he was trapped.

However, his attention was quickly drawn away from the heaviness of the water. Instead, he noticed that there were bubbles traveling towards him, and he could make out the outline of a shape traveling beneath the water. The shape came to a stop in front of him, and once again, he saw that tuft of blonde hair arise from the water.

Georgie stuck his head above the water, examining him curiously. He was no longer grinning. Instead, he gazed at him with serious intent.

“Go down to the boiler room at 1am, okay?” Georgie instructed him. “You gotta, if you wanna have any chance at staying safe.”

 _Boiler room?_ George mentally questioned. He was almost certain that the boiler room was off limits to hotel guests. Even if it wasn’t off limits, he wasn’t completely sure about following instructions from a boy who was supposed to be dead.

“If you don’t, I’m gonna go talk to Bill myself,” Georgie continued. “We got a lot to talk about.”

That strung a pang of fear into George’s heart. He didn’t fully understand what the boy had meant by that, but a part of him was terrified that Georgie was going to go reinforce the idea that Bill had been responsible for his death. George couldn’t stand the thought of him living with that guilt any longer.

“I’ll come along tomorrow!” he cried. “Just… stay away from my dad. Please.”

Georgie tilted his head, squinting as he tried to decipher if he was being honest. After a moment, he smiled at him and nodded.

“’Kay, then! Have fun in the boiler room!” he called out. “See ya!”

He dove back beneath the water. Then, the murky colour began to fade, and soon, the water returned to its dazzling blue. Nervously, George tried to move his arm through the water, and much to his relief, it moved smoothly, and with little effort.

Finally, he scrambled out of the pool, backing away until his back pressed the wall. His breathing was light and frantic, and his heart was racing. He wanted to calm himself and process what had just happened, but another part of him wanted to push the event as far from his mind as possible.

 _It shouldn’t be too hard to push away, right?_ he thought. _Things like that don’t just_ happen.

But he knew it had. The boy in the water had undoubtedly been Georgie, as he remembered seeing his face in the faded photo on his wall nine years ago. Looking into the water, he could still vividly remember how murky it had been mere seconds ago. As much as he wanted to pretend that it had all been some strange illusion, there was too much fresh in his mind to push those thoughts away.

Then, there was a loud thump against the window.

George jumped, letting out a terrified scream. He turned towards the window, unsure of what he would see. He had a premonition that he had seen Georgie for the final time that night, but he knew that the danger still remained close by.

 _I’m going to see the figure from dad’s notebook, aren’t I?_ he thought, squinting out into the darkness.

However, there was no clown waiting outside for him. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see that the figure was something much smaller. It clearly wasn’t human, but it wasn’t something monstrous either. The thing stepped underneath one of the outdoor lights, and George finally saw what it was.

It was a crow. George felt relief flood over him, knowing that there was still normality in the world.

The bird looked rattled after crashing into the window, but it made no attempt to fly away. Instead, it stared into the indoor pool area. After a moment, George realized that it was staring directly at him. Briefly, he began to panic that the bird was another malicious entity, similar to the figure from the notebook, and the thing that appeared to be Bill’s dead brother.

However, as George continued to look at the bird, he understood that it wasn’t related to It in any way. He didn’t understand how, but as he looked at the bird, he could understand that it was simply alarmed after crashing into the window, and a little dazed.

In any other circumstances, he would have gone over to the door and opened it, allowing the bird to explore new territory while recovering from its crash. But, these were different circumstances, and at that moment, he just wanted to run back to his room and try to finally put the strange night behind him.

He did feel a little grateful to see the crow, as it served as a reminder that the normal world was still ongoing, and he wasn’t totally lost to the strange danger that seemed to have persisted since he overheard his parents conversation.

But, for now, he decided to put it all behind him. Getting to his feet, he ran out of the pool area. He ran as fast as he could go, terrified that the thing posing as Bill’s brother would change its mind, and come back to torment him some more.


End file.
